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PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Presented    by~W<S  £>  \  0\  e,>rA-    V&v\"Vo 


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BLENDING   LIGHTS; 


OR, 


THE  RELATIONS   OF  NATURAL   SCIENCE, 

ARCHAEOLOGY,  AND  HISTORY, 

TO  THE  BIBLE. 


BY  REV.  WILLIAM  FRASER,  LL.  D. 


REVISED  EDITION. 


Prove  all  things  ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."    1  Thes.  5  :  21 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 

I  50  NASSAU  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


Third  edition,  revised  for  the  American  Tract  Society  by  the 
Author,  and  published  by  a  special  arrangement  with  him. 


mmmme 


CHAPTER  I. 

Tendencies  to  Error — Subjects  to  be  Studied — Practical  Suggestions      5 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis — Its  Distinguishing  Characteristics  as  a 
History — Origination  of  Matter — Import  of  "In  the  Beginning"     12 

CHAPTER   III. 

The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis  (continued) — The  Origin  of  Light — Its  Ex- 
istence before  the  Sun  was  made  separately  Visible — The  Origina- 
tion of  Life — The  Creative  Days 47 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Unity  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth — Unity  in  the  Structure  of  the  Earth, 
and  in  its  Life-forms 68 

CHAPTER    V. 

Scripture  Allusions  coincident  with  Facts  in  Natural  Science 83 

CHAPTER    VI 

The  Geologic  Fulness  of  Time  when  Man  appeared 97 

CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Bible  Account  of  Man's  Origin — The  Opinion  that  he  was  Miracu- 
lously Born — The  Theory  that  he  was  naturally  developed 106 

CHAPTER    VIII 

Have  there  been  More  Origins  than  One  for  the  Human  Race?  —  The 
Bible  Doctrine  in  Relation  to  Recent  Theories 134 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Were  our  First  Parents  Savages  ? — Recent  Theories  as  to  the  Origin  of 
Civilization  considered  in  Relation  to  Scripture  and  History 164 

CHAPTER  X. 

Were  our  First  Parents  Savages  ?  (continued) — Recent  Theories  as  to  the 
Origin  of  Civilization  considered  in  Relation  to  the  Mental  Faculties, 
the  Moral  Sense,  and  Religion 192 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  Antiquity  of  Man  —  The  Bible  Chronology — The  Chronology  of 
Geologists  - - - - 225 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Antiquity  of  Man  (continued) — The  Chronology  of  Archaeologists — Infer- 
ences as  connected  with  Geology  and  History — The  Danish  Shell- 
Mounds,  Swiss  Lake  Dwellings,  and  Egyptian  Monuments 257 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Bible  a  Light  among  Ancient  Records — Egyptian,  Chaldean,  and 
Assyrian  Testimonies  to  the  Truth  of  the  Scriptures 290 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Bible  History  in  Relation  to  Prophecy — The  Evidence  of  Prophecy — The 
Idea  of  the  Supernatural  Inseparable  from  it 341 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Recent  Theories  regarding  the  Supernatural  and  the  Reign  of  Law — 
Evidence  in  Nature  of  the  Supernatural  - 369 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Evidence  in  Christianity  of  the  Supernatural — Results  in  the  History  of 
Christianity — Conclusion 401 


BLENDING     LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

TENDENCIES  TO  ERROR SUBJECTS  TO  BE  STUDIED PRAC- 
TICAL SUGGESTIONS. 

Let  no  one,  upon  a  weak  conceit  of  sobriety  or  an  ill-applied  modera- 
tion, think  or  maintain  that  a  man  can  search  too  far,  or  be  too  well 
studied  in  the  book  of  God's  Word,  or  in  the  book  of  God's  Works — 
divinity  or  philosophy — but  rather  let  men  endeavor  an  endless  progress 
or  proficiency  in  both ;  only  let  them  beware' that  they  apply  both  to  char- 
ity and  not  to  arrogance ;  to  use,  and  not  to  ostentation ;  and,  again,  that 
they  do  not  mingle  or  confound  these  learnings  together. — bacon. 

Many  have  lost  their  early  faith  in  the  Bible,  and  are 
following  its  guidance  with  faltering  footstep.  Between 
them  and  hitherto  accepted  truths,  the  sciences  have 
been  placing  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles.  The 
trustful  simplicity  with  which  they  once  read  the  sacred 
Record  has  almost  perished.  Inferences  by  the  man  of 
science,  conflicting  with  interpretations  of  Scripture  by 
the  theologian,  have  rudely  shaken  their  most  cherished 
convictions.  They  are  not  infidels,  they  are  not  skeptics, 
for  doubt  is  distasteful  to  them ;  they  long  for  more  defi- 
nite expositions  and  a  firmer  faith. 

1* 


6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

In  the  midst  of  such  discussions  as  are  at  present 
keenly  sustained,  their  perplexity  is  not  unnatural,  their 
most  anxiously-sustained  investigations  have  hitherto 
only  multiplied  difficulties,  and  a  sense  of  responsibility 
alone  constrains  them  to  linger  over  conclusions  from 
which  their  judgment  recoils.  This  hesitancy  of  belief 
may  be  at  the  outset  disheartening  ;  yet  it  may  be  insep- 
arable from  that  clearness  of  insight  and  that  force  of 
character,  which,  in  the  end,  commonly  create  the  stablest 
convictions,  and  evoke  adequate  proof  to  shield  them. 
To  shun  or  denounce  those  who  cannot  acquiesce  in 
what  we  believe,  is  inconsistent  not  only  with  the  lessons 
of  philosophy,  but  with  His  example  who  came  to  "bear 
witness  to  the  truth." 

What  is  our  duty,  with  the  natural  sciences  on  the 
one  hand  appealing  so  largely  to  our  reason,  and  the 
Scriptures  on  the  other  hand  appealing  so  constantly  to 
our  faith  ?  Obviously,  to  depreciate  neither,  but  to  wel- 
come both  the  sciences  and  the  Scriptures,  to  ascertain 
their  harmony,  to  note  their  differences,  and  to  accept 
the  treasures  of  truth  which  they  may  bring.  Indiffer- 
ence is  inexcusable  as  is  excessive  zeal,  and  apathy  as 
antagonism. 

The  Bible,  free  to  us  as  are  the  fields  of  science,  chal- 
lenges the  severest  scrutiny.  It  is  the  boldest  of  books, 
and  demands  the  application  of  every  test.  As  it  is  the 
most  comprehensive  history  in  the  world,  and  gives  the 
amplest  scope  for  research,  as  its  earliest  records  are  the 
oldest  in  existence,  and  its  latest  prophecies  shed  light 
far  into   the  future,  as  it  touches   depths  and  reaches 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  7 

heights  which  no  other  book  can  approach,  as  it  brings 
into  closest  connection  the  visible  and  invisible,  natural 
law  and  supernatural  influence,  the  condition  of  man  and 
the  character  of  God,  it  is  exposed  to  assaults  which  no 
other  book  can  bear. 

Systematic  and  persistent  study  is  required  at  our 
hand,  that  we  may  estimate  aright  not  only  the  facts  and 
arguments  brought  against  the  Bible,  but  those  also  which 
are  adduced  in  its  favor.  The  task  may  be  arduous,  but 
this  price  is  not  too  great  for  the  settlement  of  questions 
so  momentous  ;  and  if  the  solution  of  some  of  them  may 
have  to  be  for  a  season  postponed,  ours  will  be  the  satis- 
faction which  the  conscientious  improvement  of  every 
opportunity  invariably  fosters. 

Different  lines  of  investigation  may  be  profitably  fol- 
lowed, but  we- may  suggest  the  following  as  exhaustive, 
or  nearly  exhaustive,  of  the  most  prominent  questions 
which  modern  research  has  raised. 

As  the  Bible  is  confessedly  related  to  the  natural  sci- 
ences, archaeology,  history,  and  modern  civilization,  let  it 
be  placed  successively  in  the  midst  of  their  facts,  and  let 
us  see  to  what  extent  its  statements  can  bear  their  light. 

There  are  many  questions  which  none  of  us  can  hon- 
estly avoid  ;  and  while  some  may  remain  unsettled,  the 
unbiased  review  of  those  solutions  which  have  been 
already  offered,  and  which  have  been  generally  accepted, 
will  be  found  to  confirm  Scripture  instead  of  confuting  it. 

1.  As  to  Science. — Have  astronomy  and  geology  given 
evidence  for  or  against  the  eternity  of  the  visible  uni- 
, verse?      Has    biology   determined    the   origin   of    life? 


8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

whence  is  it  ?  Have  comparative  anatomy  and  physiol- 
ogy, psychology  and  ethics,  established  more  than  one 
origin  for  the  human  race  ?  Are  the  incidental  allusions 
in  Scripture  contradicted  or  confirmed  by  the  more  re- 
cent discoveries  in  natural  science  ? 

2.  As  to  Archceology. — Can  the  Bible  confront  prehis- 
toric revelations  ?  Antiquity  is  pouring  increasing  light 
over  the  oldest  records.  Ruins,  monuments,  inscriptions, 
parchments,  have  been  emitting  their  wondrous  testimo- 
nies, parallel  with  Scripture  history.  Assyria,  Egypt, 
Palestine,  Greece,  Rome,  in  their  histories,  revolutions, 
and  domestic  episodes,  have  been  interwoven  with  the 
statements  of  Scripture  as  with  those  of  no  other  book. 
To  what  purpose  has  historic  criticism  dealt  with  the 
sacred  page  ?  Is  the  Bible  yielding,  or  is  it  growing 
brighter  in  the  crucible  of  archaeology  ? 

3.  As  to  Modern  History  and  Civilization. — By  its 
claim  to  uplift  and  bless  the  human  race,  the  Bible  is 
separated  from  all  other  books.  It  proposes  to  revolu- 
tionize man's  moral  history  here,  and  to  prepare  him  for 
a  future  whose  course  it  in  part  delineates.  Has  it  failed, 
or  is  it  failing  ?  Has  it  been  enfeebled  by  the  lapse  of 
ages  ?  Has  it  become  effete  amid  changes  which  have 
given  intellect  new  instruments  and  reason  new  spheres  ? 
Has  it  lost  its  former  hold  of  the  human  mind,  and  is  it 
sinking  amid  the  tumult  of  bitterly  conflicting  opinions? 
Has  ever  tribe  been  found  which  it  could  not  raise  and 
enlighten  ?  or  has  civilization  ever  outshone,  in  any  land, 
its  intellectual  and  moral  splendor? 

4.  As  to  the  Supernatural. — If  the  Bible  is  the  book 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  9 

which  it  professes  to  be,  and  which  we  hold  it  is,  the  or- 
dinary and  the  extraordinary,  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural, must  be  associated  in  its  character  and  history. 
What  is  the  warrant  which  men  of  science  adduce  for 
repudiating;  the  supernatural  while  they  accept  the  nat- 
ural ?  and  by  what  reasoning  does  the  Christian  apologist 
attempt  to  preserve  their  connection?  Is  there  no  valid 
evidence  around  us  in  the  contrasts  of  barbarism  and  civ- 
ilization, as  well  as  in  the  histories  of  nations  in  their 
relation  to  prophecy  ?  and  are  there  no  facts  in  the 
strangely  revolutionized  lives  of  thousands  in  the  Chris- 
tian church,  which  proclaim  the  singular  moral  force  of 
the  Word  of  God  ? 

Assuming  that  many  are  willing  to  follow  such  a 
course  of  study  as  we  have  sketched,  either  to  remove 
doubts  which  may  be  lingering  in  their  own  mind,  or  to 
aid  some  brother  in  his  struggle  to  win  the  repose  which 
they  have  gained,  we  shall,  at  the  outset,  offer  some  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  spirit  and  the  method  by  which  their 
investigations  should  be  characterized.  It  is  of  much 
importance  to  know,  in  the  first  place,  what  is,  and  what 
is  not  yet,  within  our  reach. 

1.  We  are  not  entitled  to  assume  the  possibility,  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  of  demonstrating  a 
perfect  agreement  between  science  and  Scripture,  or 
rather  between  the  inferences  of  the  philosopher  and  the 
interpretations  of  the  theologian.  Much  remains  to  be 
ascertained  before  that  result  can  be  realized.  The  nat- 
ural sciences  are  confessedly  incomplete ;  some  of  them 
are  only  in  their  infancy,  and  can  teach  us  little.     Many 


io  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

years  may  pass  before  they  can  be  brought  into  perfect 
accord  with  the  Bible.  As  the  facts  of  natural  science 
have  not  been  all  ascertained  and  classified,  as  its  laws 
have  not  been  all  recognized,  and  as  the  inferences  of  to- 
day may  be  modified  by  the  discoveries  of  to-morrow,  it 
is  absurd  to  be  demanding  immediate  evidence  of  a  per- 
fect agreement  between  Scripture  and  science.  Appa- 
rent contradictions  are,  at  the  present  stage,  unavoidable. 
There  must  first  be  an  exact  and  exhaustive  examination 
of  all  those  points  at  which  the  Scriptures  and  the  sci- 
ences touch  each  other ;  for  so  long  as  a  single  fact  or  a 
single  law  remains  unknown,  some  important  or  essential 
truth,  intimately  related  to  the  Bible,  may  be  concealed. 

While  the  natural  sciences  continue  incomplete,  nat- 
ural theology  must  necessarily  have  an  imperfect  foun- 
dation. As  confessedly  dependent  on  what  is  incomplete, 
natural  theology  can  have  neither  the  comprehensiveness 
nor  the  definiteness  which  characterizes  supernatural  the- 
ology, as  dependent  on  what  is  now  complete  and  unva- 
rying. We  cannot  force  the  legitimate  yet  somewhat 
incoherent  teachings  of  the  one  book — the  works  of 
God — of  which  but  a  few  leaves  have  been  separated, 
scanned,  and  paged,  into  perfect  harmony  with  the  teach- 
ings of  the  other  book — the  WTord  of  God — whose  reve- 
lation of  truth  has  been  finished,  accredited,  and  closed. 

2.  It  bec6mes  us  to  wait  patiently,  while  we  work 
persistently,  for  the  solution  of  difficulties  which  may  be 
continuing  to  press  upon  us.  The  experience  of  the  past 
is  an  encouragement  for  the  future.  The  sciences  have 
again  and  again  become  their  own  interpreter,  and  reject- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  n 

ed  erroneous  inferences.  Many  examples  might  be 
given,  but  one  or  two  may  in  the  meantime  suffice. 
Human  skeletons  were  found  in  what  seemed  old  lime- 
stone, on  the  northeast  coast  of  the  mainland  of  Guada- 
loupe ;  and  after  bold  attacks  on  the  Bible,  which  were 
met  by  some  very  weak  and  irregular  defences,  it  was 
ascertained  that  the  whole  was  a  mistake — that  the  lime- 
stone was  of  very  recent  formation,  that  the  skeletons 
were  of  well-known  Indian  tribes,  and  agitation  ceased. 
A  similar  commotion  was  raised  when  the  supposed  im- 
prints of  human  feet  on  limestone  had  been  figured  and 
described  in  the  "  American  Journal  of  Science,"  and 
Christians  met  strange  infidel  hypotheses  by  very  feeble 
assertions,  until  Dr.  Dale  Owen  proved  the  imprints  to 
have  been  sculptured  by  an  Indian  tribe.  Thereafter, 
for  a  season,  the  scientific  inquirer  and  the  theological 
student  prosecuted  their  respective  investigations  in 
peace. 

There  are  important  lessons  for  us  in  these,  and  in 
many  similar  facts.  Christian  apologists  have  often  egre- 
giously  erred,  not  only  in  hastily  accepting  statements 
regarding  supposed  facts,  but  in  admitting  the  validity  of 
the  reasoning  which  has  been  eagerly  founded  on  them, 
and  in  making  a  fruitless  attempt  to  twist  Scripture  into 
harmony  with  what  science  itself  has  subsequently  dis- 
owned. Facts  ill-observed,  and  afterwards  misstated, 
have  drawn  many  of  our  best  and  most  candid  students 
into  unnecessary  collision  with  Biblical  critics  ;  and,  after 
much  heat  in  controversy,  and  the  waste  on  both  sides 
of  much  intellectual  energy,  the  obstacle  lying  between 


i2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

them  has  unexpectedly  vanished  in  the  fuller  light  of  sci- 
ence. The  evil  to  be  deplored  is,  that  after  the  errors 
have  disappeared  their  influence  remains.  The  imprint 
often  lingers  long  after  the  counterfeit  die  has  been 
broken. 

3.  There  is  a  constant  tendency  on  the  part  of  dis- 
coverers to  invest  new  facts  with  a  fictitious  interest, 
and  those  who  are  hostile  to  the  Bible  eagerly  parade 
them  for  the  discomfiture  of  Christians.  Every  fact  is 
to  be  welcomed,  but  it  is  to  be  treasured  only  that  it  may 
be  adjusted  to  other  facts,  and  become  in  part  the  foun- 
dation of  a  new  truth.  Isolated  and  unexplained  facts 
have  been  too  often  unceremoniously  dragged  into  court 
to  give  testimony  against  some  Scripture  statement,  and 
have  been  too  easily  held  sufficient  to  push  aside  those 
accumulated  evidences  to  its  truth  which  history  or 
science,  or  both,  had  indisputably  established.  It  is  not, 
indeed,  surprising  that  the  faith  of  many  has  failed,  when 
they  have  observed  the  too  ready  acquiescence  of  prom- 
inent Christian  writers  in  theories  which  necessitate  the 
abandonment  of  some  of  the  impregnable  fortresses  that 
have  been  raised  by  exact  scholarship  around  those  por- 
tions of  Scripture  which  had  been  longest  exposed  to  the 
fiercest  assaults.  Were  this  method  common,  no  perma- 
nent foundation  could  be  laid,  and  progress  in  any  science 
would  be  impossible.  Is  it  not  absurd  to  be  displacing 
corner-stones,  and  disowning,  at  random,  first  principles  ? 
No  system  of  philosophy,  no  science — not  even  mathe- 
matical, the  exactest  and  in  one  sense  the  most  perma- 
nent of.  all  the  sciences — could  have  any  weight  or  make 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  13 

the  least  progress,  if  subjected  to  such  changes  in  both 
its  principles  and  their  applications,  as  have  marked  the 
history  of  Bible  assaults,  concessions,  and  defences. 
When  facts  which  are  utterly  inexplicable  are  presented, 
we  should  retain  the  fact  in  science  and  also  the  relative 
statement  in  Scripture,  assured  that  in  clue  time  the 
needed  solution  will  come  to  harmonize  them. 

4.  To  accept  or  offer  apologies  for  the  Bible  indicates 
weakness.  It  has,  of  late,  become  common  on  the  part  of 
those  who  are  alarmed  by  the  temporary  triumphs  which 
scientific  investigation  has  given  the  avowed  enemies  of  the 
Bible,  to  demand  that  its  propositions  be  altogether  dissoci- 
ated from  both  science  and  philosophy,  on  the  plea  that 
the  Bible  was  not  given  to  teach  either  the  one  or  the  other. 
The  proposal  is  plausible,  but  it  is  really  unnecessary ; 
for  although  not  given  to  teach  physical  science,  the  Bi- 
ble cannot  contradict  either  its  facts  or  its  legitimate 
inferences.  The  Word  of  God  cannot  be  regarded  as 
by  any  possibility  contradicting  the  lessons  of  his  works. 
Like  every  other  book,  the  Bible  must  bear  all  the  light 
that  can  fall  on  its  pages  ;  and  it  must  not  only  stand 
the  tests  of  criticism  and  history,  but  vindicate  all  its 
claims  as  the  "  more  sure  Word  of  Prophecy."  Other- 
wise, appeals  for  leniency  are  profitless.  True,  in  its 
highest  connections,  the  Bible  is  unapproachable  by  oth- 
er books  ;  it  is  easily  distinguishable  from  them  ;  yet  in 
its  human  relations  it  must  submit  to  all  the  ordinary 
appliances  of  scholarship.  No  apologies  can  justify  a 
single  error  in  either  its  science  or  its  history,  and  its 

propositions  are  obviously  inadmissible  if  they  contradict 

2 


i4  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

human  reason ;  they  may  be  above,  but  they  cannot  be 
opposed  to  it. 

5.  Akin  to  an  easy  escape  from  difficulties,  through 
apologies  for  the  Bible,  is  the  tendency  to  glide  into  con- 
clusions directly  hostile.  The  prevailing  activity  of  the 
age  is  so  unfavorable  to  leisurely  investigations,  as  to 
facilitate  the  subtle  advances  of  error.  While  many 
writers  of  the  present  day  are  as  preeminently  gifted, 
and  as  distinguished  in  the  different  departments  of 
learning,  as  those  of  any  preceding  age,  and  while  their 
reasonings  and  their  conclusions  are  borne  by  the  daily 
or  the  serial  press  to  every  man's  door,  multitudes 
think  and  decide  by  substitute.  They  want  leisure,  and 
they  trust  to  others.  Rapidity  of  locomotion,  the  chief 
physical  feature  of  our  time,  betokens  also  its  intellectual 
tendencies.  Men  read  cursorily  and  -decide  rapidly. 
The  daily  newspaper  is  making  book-study  rarer  than 
hitherto.  Sustained  study  is  felt  in  ten  thousand  in- 
stances to  be  distasteful  or  difficult.  The  subtle  influ- 
ence of  the  daily  newspaper  is  telling  on  our  thoughtful- 
ness.  We  really  seem  to  be  approaching  the  fulfilment 
of  Lamartine's  prediction,  "  Before  this  century  shall 
have  run  out,  journalism  will  be  the  whole  press,  the 
whole  of  human  thought.  Thought  will  not  have  had  time 
to  ripen — to  accommodate  itself  into  the  form  of  a  book. 
The  book  will  arrive  too  late ;  the  only  book  possible 
soon,  will  be  a  newspaper." 

As  one  result  of  this  process,  truth  and  error  are 
often  imperceptibly  commingled.  So  swift  is  the  transi- 
tion from  one  fact  and  inference  to  another,  that  truth 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  15 

and  error,  like  different  colors  blent  into  one  by  rapid 
motion,  become  so  much  alike,  that  few  can  separate 
them.  Thus  with  every  advance  of  truth,  error  is  wafted 
forward.  The  seeds  of  future  tares  and  wheat  are  being 
profusely  scattered.  It  cannot  be  denied,  that  while  to 
almost  every  man's  door  are  daily  wafted  accurate  rec- 
ords of  passing  history,  of  the  discoveries  of  science,  of 
the  triumphs  of  art,  and  of  the  generalizations  of  philoso- 
phy, the  same  messengers  no  less  sedulously  exhibit, 
now  faintly  and  now  in  the  strongest  light,  every  difficul- 
ty connected  with  the  Bible,  both  real  and  imaginary,  the 
boldest  objections  of  historic  criticism,  the  theories  of 
speculative  philosophy,  the  apparent  contradictions  of 
science  and  Scripture,  and  the  saddening  conflicts  of 
professing  Christians.  The  constant  diffusion  of  such 
influences  tells  in  the  long  run,  not  only  on  less  active 
minds,  but  on  the  most  energetic,  and  it  renders  easier 
of  acceptance  every  erroneous  conclusion. 

But  this  incessant  activity  is  a  symptom  of  health. 
It  augurs  good.  Rightly  directed,  it  may  strengthen 
character  while  it  develops  mental  power,  and  gives  a 
more  exquisite  appreciation  of  the  just  and  true.  But 
remember  that  everything  depends  on  this  rightness  of 
direction  ;  and  to  secure  this,  unfailing  caution  is  required. 
The  wind  and  tide  which,  rightly  used,  hasten  the  voya- 
ger to  his  harbor,  may,  if  unheeded,  strand  him  on  an 
unexpected  shore  ;  and  so  those  subtle  forces,  and  those 
under-currents,  which  should  have  aided  in  guiding  us  to 
a  satisfying  intellectual  and  moral  repose,  may,  through 
the  thoughtlessness  or  the  indolence  that  at  the  outset 


1 6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

disregarded  a  slight  divergence  from  the  truth,  almost 
but  not  altogether  imperceptible,  destroy  our  happiness 
through  the  shipwreck  and  the  ultimate  abandonment  of 
our  Christian  faith. 

6.  Another  common  tendency  in  the  wrong  direction 
claims  attention.  It  manifests  itself  in  repugnance  to 
controversy  or  discussion  in  every  form.  Many  shrink 
from  controversy  as  unseemly,  and  seek  escape  in  either 
solitude  or  study.  While  peace  is  in  itself  desirable,  it 
is  not  always  attainable.  We  cannot  escape  conflict  by 
letting  go  the  Bible ;  nor  can  we  traverse  any  of  the 
fields  of  science  without  entanglement  in  the  intellectual 
struggles  of  disputants  whose  reasonings  have  sometimes 
but  little  of  the  calmness  of  philosophy.  Nor  is  this  to 
be  regretted.  The  repose  of  meditation  is  not  so  bra- 
cing as  the  discipline  of  occasional  contest  for  the  truth. 

There  are  other  advantages.  The  attrition  of  discus- 
sion often  reveals  and  beautifies  truths  which  would 
otherwise  have  remained  unrecognized.  Apathy  or 
silence  may  shelter  error  without  preserving  truth. 
Intellectual  indolence,  bad  for  the  world,  is  still  worse 
for  the  'church.  The  highest  life  is  demanded  by  the 
Bible,  and,  therefore,  also  the  greatest  activity.  From 
intellectual  walfare,  the  sciences  and  the  Scriptures  have 
nothing  to  lose,  but  everything  to  gain.  On  Christian 
or  skeptic,  on  prophet  true  or  false,  the  Bible  never 
enforces  silence.  It  seals  no  thinker's  lip.  "  The  prophet 
that  hath  a  dream,  let  him  tell  a  dream ;  and  he  that 
hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What 
is  the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord."     Jer.-  23:28. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  17 

In  the  field  of  thought,  nothing  save  the  chaff  perishes. 
Lost  truths  spring  up  again  ;  and,  beneath  their  spreading 
branches,  vitiated  reasoning,  unsound  criticism,  and 
erroneous  conclusions,  ultimately  decay  as  briers  beneath 
the  spreading  oak. 

There  are  those  also  who  deplore  discussion  only 
because  it  raises  questions  hostile  to  the  Scriptures,  and 
alarms  the  weak.  This  anxiety,  though  laudable,  is 
fruitless.  Vital  questions  are  already  discussed  on  all 
hands,  and  in  every  variety  of  aspect.  There  are  dis- 
advantages, but  they  are  generally  inseparable  from  the 
progress  of  truth.  It  will  be  admitted  on  both  sides, 
that  while  the  extension  of  exact  knowledge  contracts 
the  sphere  of  superstition,  it  enlarges  at  the  same  time 
the  sphere  of  skepticism.  Superstition  may  be  displaced 
without  Christianity  becoming  its  substitute ;  there  may 
be  a  high  and  an  attractive  civilization,  based  on  science 
and  its  applications,  which,  in  acknowledging  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  supremacy  of  the  Bible,  and  nothing 
more,  may  for  a  season  destroy  credulity,  only  to  give 
fuller  scope  to  No-Belief,  and  to  evoke  ultimately  an 
opposition  to  the  Bible  hitherto  repressed  or  unknown. 
For  such  results  we  must  be  prepared  ;  they  are  collateral, 
not  essential  or  direct.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  price 
which  we  pay  for  our  intellectual  freedom.  We  are 
neither  to  falter  nor  hesitate  because  the  increasing  light, 
which  is  dissipating  ignorance  and  extending  the  bound- 
aries of  truth,  is  at  the  same  time  indirectly  opening  to 
Error  a  wider  field  for  the  distribution  of  her  forces, 
revealing  new   weapons  for  her  armory,  and  enabling 

2* 


1 8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

her  to  seize,  and  for  a  season  to  retain,  positions  hitherto 
unknown  and  unassailed.  In  the  history  of  the  physical 
sciences,  and  of  archaeological  discovery,  Error  has  often 
rushed  to  the  battlements  of  Truth,  and,  seizing  some 
detached  or  imaginary  facts,  has  wielded  them  against 
the  Bible,  until  the  sciences  have  themselves  expelled 
her  and  repudiated  her  reasoning.  Such  agitation  is 
not  to  be  deplored  :  it  conduces  to  stability,  it  evokes 
more  good  than  evil,  and  not  unfreqently  has  it  happen- 
ed that  the  superstition  which  long  benumbed  the 
church,  and  the  infidelity  which  aroused  her,  have  yield- 
ed to  the  unexpected  sway  of  some  Bible  truth,  when  a 
more  definite  meaning  has  been  given  to  some  natural 
law  or  providential  dispensation. 

The  character  of  the  Bible  is  misunderstood  by  those 
who  suppose  that  its  safety  lies  in  keeping  it  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  rigorous  investigations  and  the  exact 
conclusions  of  science  or  philosophy.  Such  a  method  is 
indefensible.  To  pursue  truth  in  one  department  implies, 
or  should  imply,  not  only  a  love  of  truth  in  every  depart- 
ment, but  also  a  resolute  purpose  to  discover  and  dislodge 
every  error.  Which  of  the  sciences,  as  preserved  from 
controversy,  is  entitled  to  cast  the  first  stone  at  any  of 
the  others  or  their  students  ?  "  Philosophy  and  litera- 
ture," says  Lord  Kinloch,  in  an  admirable  work,  "while 
professing  to  pursue  truth  in  the  composure  of  unruffled 
seclusion,  and  to  be  desirous  of  having  it  elicited  by  the 
healthy  excitement  of  friendly  debate,  will  protest  against 
the  dishonor  of  soiling  their  hands,  or  disarranging  their 
robes  in  the  turmoil  of  heated  controversy ;  and  least  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  19 

all  will  they  consent  to  be  defiled  with  the  mire  or 
exposed  to  the  perils  of  religious  strife.  This  plea  is 
false  in  fact,  as  it  is  futile  in  philosophy.  It  is  in  fact 
false  :  for  literary  and  philosophical  controversies  have 
been  neither  few  in  number  nor  wanting  in  a.  keen  and 
rancorous  spirit.  And,  admitting  that  religious  conten- 
tions have  been  still  more  rancorous  and  embittered,  it 
is  only  what  might  reasonably  be  expected,  on  account 
of  the  higher  interests  at  stake.  The  plea  is,  moreover, 
worthless  on  philosophicial  principles  :  for  it  eviscerates 
the  distinction  between  truth  and  error  of  all  meaning 
and  value.  Better  not  to  admit  the  distinction  at  all, 
than,  having  admitted  it  in  one  instance,  deny  it  in 
another  ;  or,  what  is  worse,  depreciate  its  significance 
even  to  thought,  and  that  too  in  the  most  important  of 
its  applications.  All  argument  and  all  effort  are  for  ever 
at  an  end,  unless  truth — yea,  all  truth — be  precious ;  so 
precious,  that  in  the  legitimate  pursuit  of  it  we  may  and< 
ought  to  put  forth  our  utmost  strength  ;  and  in  defence 
of  it,  when  found,  incur  the  utmost  hazard."* 

It  is  unworthy  of  any  Christian  scientist  to  be  dis- 
couraged by  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles.  The 
boldest  assertions  and  the  most  plausible  reasonings  need 
not  disturb  the  Bible  student.  Difficulties  seemingly 
insuperable  have,  in  the  past,  suddenly  yielded  to  unex- 
pected discoveries ;  and  every  science,  we  may  rest 
assured,  will  hereafter  gain  strength  enough  and  light 
enough  to  purify  its  own  temple  and  be  its  own  inter- 
preter. The  past  may  be  held  to  be  prophetic  of  future 
"Christian  Errors,  Infidel  Arguments,"  p.  97. 


2o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

solutions  ;  and  the  sciences  will  be  found  not  only  correct- 
ing the  mistakes  and  the  arrogance  of  many  of  their 
students,  but  rebuking  the  too  hasty  concessions  of 
Christian  apologists,  and  either  directly  or  indirectly 
revealing,  at  the  same  time,  the  impressiveness  and  the 
majesty  of  Scripture  truth. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    FIRST     CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS ITS     DISTINGUISHING 

CHARACTERISTICS     AS     A     HISTORY ORIGINATION     OF 

MATTER IMPORT    OF    "  IN    THE    BEGINNING." 

The  archetype  of  science  is  the  universe,  and  it  is  in  the  disclosure  of 
its  successive  parts  that  science  advances  from  step  to  step;  not  properly 
by  raising  any  new  architecture  of  its  own,  but  rather  unveiling  by  degrees 
an  architecture  as  old  as  creation.  The  laborers  in  philosophy  create 
nothing,  but  only  bring  out  into  exhibition  that  which  was  before  cre- 
ated.— CHALMERS. 

As  an  historical  record,  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is 
without  a  compeer.  It  is  unapproached.  Its  first  an- 
nouncements distinguish  the  Bible  from  all  other  books. 
Its  simplicity,  its  directness  of  statement,  its  boldness  oi 
conception,  its  subdued  grandeur,  are  throughout  con- 
spicuous. "  The  historical  events  described,"  says  De- 
litzsch,  "  contain  a  rich  treasury  of  speculative  thoughts 
and  poetical  glory,  but  they  themselves  are  free  from  the 
influence  of  human  invention  and  human  philosophizing." 
The  record  begins  where  the  investigations  of  natural 
science  cease,  and  this  very  peculiarity  has  drawn  upon 
the  Bible  the  fiercest  assaults.  Every  statement  has 
been  in  turn  sifted,  rejected,  and  vindicated ;  and  one  of 
the  fairest  tests  which  at  the  very  outset  we  can  apply,  is 
carefully  to  compare  the  Bible  account  of  creation  and 
of  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man,  with  those  paral- 
lel histories  by  which  heathen  nations  have  hitherto  been 
guided. 


22  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Reserving  for  future  consideration  the  mutual  rela- 
tions of  its  more  definite  statements,  let  us  therefore  at 
once  place  this  portion  of  Scripture  history  side  by  side 
with  the  best  accounts  which  antiquity  and  modern  his- 
tory can  furnish.  Their  incongruities  are  so  apparent  as 
to  be  ludicrous.  If  we  carefully  examine  the  Chaldean, 
the  Phoenician,  and  the  Egyptian,  as  illustrative  of  an- 
cient cosmogonies,  and  the  varied  delineations  and  be- 
liefs of  Northern  Europe  and  India  as  illustrative  of 
accepted  records  in  more  recent  times,  we  cannot  fail  to 
recognize  the  wonderful  preeminence  of  the  Bible. 

I.    HEATHEN  HISTORIES  OF  CREATION  COMPARED  WITH  THE 
BIBLE  RECORD. 

1.  In  the  Chaldean  myth,  the  "All"  is  represented  as 
consisting  of  darkness  and  water,  filled  with  monstrous 
creatures  of  profound  form,  and  governed  by  a  woman, 
whose  name,  Homoroka,  signifies  ocean.  This  woman 
was  cut  into  two  halves  by  Bel,  the  supreme  deity:  the 
one  half  formed  the  earth,  the  other  heaven.  Bel  there- 
after cut  off  his  own  head,  and  from  the  drops  of  his  blood 
men  were  formed. 

2.  In  the  Phoenician  cosmogony,  the  beginning  of 
the  "All"  was  a  dark  windy  air,  a  turbid  eternal  chaos. 
By  the  union  of  the  spirit  with  the  "  All,"  or  universe, 
slime  was  formed,  from  which  every  seed  of  creation  was 
educed.  The  heavens  were  made  in  the  form  of  an  egg, 
from  which  sprang  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  constella- 
tions. By  the  meeting  of  the  earth  and  the  sea,  winds 
arose,  with  clouds  and  rain,  lightning  and  thunder.  The 
noise   of    the   tempests   aroused    sensitive   beings,    and 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  23 

henceforth  living  creatures,  male  and  female,  moved  in 
the  sea  and  on  the  earth. 

3.  The  Egyptians  had  several  myths,  the  chief  of 
which  was  that  the  heaven  and  earth  were  at  first  com- 
mingled, but  afterwards  the  elements  began  to  separate. 
"  The  fiery  particles,  owing  to  their  levity,  rose  to  the 
upper  regions  ;  the  muddy  and  turbid  matter,  after  it  had 
been  incorporated  with  the  humid,  subsided  by  its  own 
weight.  By  continued  motion,  the  watery  particles  sep- 
arated and  became  the  sea,  the  more  solid  constituted  the 
dry  land.  Warmed  and  fecundated  by  the  sun,  the  earth, 
still  soft,  produced  different  kinds  of  creatures,  which, 
according  as  the  fiery,  watery,  or  earthy  matter  predomi- 
nated in  their  constitution,  became  inhabitants  of  the 
sky,  the  water,  or  the  land."  Similar  absurdities  prevail 
in  the  myths  of  Greece  and  Etruria*  The  following 
quotation  from  the  laws  of  Menu  is  illustrative  of  the 
strange  beliefs  of  millions  in  India  at  the  present  day, 
who  regard  these  laws  as  a  revelation  from  Brahma: 

"  This  universe  existed  only  in  darkness,  impercepti- 
ble, undefinable,  undiscoverable  by  reason — undiscovered, 
as  if  it  were  wholly  immersed  in  sleep.  There,  the  self- 
existing  power,  himself  undiscovered,  but  making  this 
world  discernible  with  fire-elements  and  other  princi- 
ples, appeared  with  undiminished  glory,  dispelling  the 
gloom.  .  .  .  He  having  willed  to  produce  various  beings 
from  his  own  substance,  first,  with  a  thought,  created 

*  See  "  Commentary  on  the  Pentateuch,"  by  Keil  and  Delitzsch,  vol. 
I.,  pp.  38-40;  and  "Creation  and  the  Fall,"  by  the  Rev.  D.  MacDonald, 
pp.  48-60. 


24  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  waters,  and  placed  in  them  a  productive  seed.  The 
seed  became  an  egg,  bright  as  gold,  blazing  like  the  lumi- 
nary with  a  thousand  beams,  and  in  that  egg  he  was  born 
himself  in  the  form  of  Brahma,  the  great  forefather  of  all 
spirits.  The  waters  are  called  Nara,  because  thev  were 
the  offspring  of  Nara,  the  supreme  spirit ;  and  as  in  them 
his  first  ayana  (progress)  in  the  character  of  Brahma  took 
place,  he  is  thence  Narayana,  he  whose  place  of  moving 
was  the  waters.  From  that  which  is  the  cause,  not  the 
object,  of  sense — existing  everywhere  in  substance,  not 
existing  to  our  perception,  without  beginning  or  end — 
was  produced  the  divine  male,  famed  in  all  the  worlds  as 
Brahma.  In  that  egg  the  great  power  sat  inactive  a 
whole  year  of  the  creator ;  at  the  close  of  which,  by  his 
thought  alone,  he  caused  the  egg  to  divide  itself,  and 
from  its  two  divisions  he  framed  the  heaven  above  and 
the  earth  beneath ;  in  the  midst,  he  placed  the  subtle 
ether,  the  eight  regions,  and  the  permanent  receptacle  of 
the  waters.  He  gave  being  to  time  ;  to  the  stars  also, 
and  the  planets  ;  to  rivers,  oceans,  and  mountains  ;  to 
level  plains  and  uneven  valleys  ;  to  devotion,  speech, 
complacency,  desire,  and  wrath  ;  and  to  creation.  For 
the  sake  of  distinguishing  action,  he  made  a  total  differ- 
ence between  right  and  wrong. 

"  That  the  human  race  might  be  multiplied,  he  caused 
the  Brahman,  the  Kshatriya,  the  Vaishya,  and  the  Shudra, 
(the  four  castes,)  to  proceed  from  his  mouth,  his  arm,  his 
thigh,  and  his  foot.  Having  divided  his  own  substance, 
the  mighty  power  became  half  male  and  half  female,  and 
from  that  female  he  produced  Viraj.     Know  me,  O  most 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  25 

excellent  Brahman s,  to  be  that  person  whom  the  male 
power,  Viraj,  produced  by  himself — me,  the  secondary 
framer  of  all  this  visible  world."* 

These  are  merely  specimens  of  what  millions  have 
believed  in  bygone  ag'es,  or  are  still  believing.  Ancient 
and  modern  cosmogonies  alike  contradict  the  commonest 
and  most  elementary  truths  of  physical  science.  In  the 
sacred  writings  of  the  Hindoos,  there  are  at  the  present 
clay  statements  so  ludicrous  as  to  sadden  us  when  we 
reflect  that  for  millions  they  are  the  basis  of  religious 
beliefs.  The  moon  is  described  as  having  inherent  light, 
and  as  higher  than  the  sun  ;  and  rational  beings  have  for 
ages  been  taught  and  have  believed  that  seven  stories  of 
the  globe  rest  on  the  heads  of  elephants,  whose  move- 
ments are  the  cause  of  terrifying  and  calamitous  earth- 
quakes. And  the  Mahommedan  is  taught  by  his  Koran 
to  believe  that  the  mountains  were  created  to  prevent  the 
earth  from  moving,  and  to  hold  it  as  by  anchors  and  ca- 
bles :  "And  God  hath  thrown  upon  the  earth  mountains 
firmly  rooted,  lest  it  should  move  with  you."f 

While  far  removed  from  such  incongruities  as  these, 
the  Mosaic  record  shows  also  remarkable  freedom  from 
merely  local  or  national  peculiarities.  To  this  fact  too 
little  importance  has  been  attached.      It  is   especially 

*  See  "What  is  Truth  ?"  an  Inquiry  concerning  the  Antiquity  and 
Unity  of  the  Human  Race,  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  241,  242. 

t  Koran.  The  Mahommedans  supposed  that  the  earth,  when  first  cre- 
ated was  smooth  and  equal,  and  thereby  liable  to  a  circular  motion  as  well 
as  the  celestial  orbs;  and  that  the  angels,  asking  who  would  be  able  to 
stand  on  so  tottering  a  frame,  God  fixed  it  next  morning  by  throwing  the 
mountains  upon  it. — sale's  koran,  vol.  2,  pp.  96,  296. 

s 


26  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

worthy  of  notice  that  such  incidental  details  as  the  cli- 
mate, the  sky,  and  the  configuration  of  the  land,  give  to 
a  large  extent,  their  own  character  to  locally  prevailing 
ideas  regarding  the  whole  universe.  The  Euphrates  and 
the  Mesopotamian  plains  influence  the  Babylonian  cos- 
mogony ;  the  Nile  gives  character  to  the  Egyptian  ;  sun- 
ny slopes  and  contrasting  heights  determine  the  Grecian  ; 
and  valley  glpom,  forest  depths,  and  wintry  storms,  the 
Scandinavian.  It  is  easy  to  trace  the  physical  basis  of 
distinct  cosmogonies.  The  bases  themselves  may  vary, 
but  their  connection  with  religious  beliefs  is  always  uni- 
form. Even  national  myths  about  creation  have  not  pre- 
served their  original  cast.  They  have  varied  with  the 
history  of  the  people.  While  the  religions  tendency  of 
the  national  mind,  and  the  traditional  basis  as  to  the 
mere  fact  of  creation,  have  remained,  the  form  of  the 
cosmogony  has  been  completely  changed  ;  it  has  been  so 
moulded  as  to  suit  the  different  physical  conformation 
and  other  varied  conditions  of  the  new  country  in  which 
the  people  have  settled.  These  modifying  processes 
Baron  Bunsen  himself  has  acknowledged,  when  he  says  : 
"  Again,  the  dispersed  tribes  formed  many  of  their  myths 
anew  when  they  settled  in  their  later  dwelling  places. 
Thus,  in  the  cosmogonic  myths  of  the  Icelander,  as  pre- 
sented to  us  in  the  Edda,  it  is  impossible  not  to  perceive 
the  influence  of  the  peculiar  locality  of  the  North  Scan- 
dinavian."* But  then,  no  such  process  or  influence  is 
ever  traceable  in  the  Bible  account.  There  is  nothing 
local ;    nothing  contingent ;  nothing  dependent  on  the 

*  Bunsen's  "  Philosophy  of  Universal  History,"  vol.  I,  p.  So. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  27 

traditions  of  any  country ;  nothing  incongruous  or  ab- 
surd. 

How  account  for  this  ?  How  few  have  ever  made  the 
attempt !  How  seldom  is  an  explanation  sought !  Was 
not  Moses  brought  up  in  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians  ? 
I  low  did  he  escape  its  influence  ?  Was  he  not  for  many 
years  a  wanderer  in  the  Arabian  desert,  and  was  he  not 
familiar  with  all  the  traditions  floating  in  the  East  and 
the  West?  If  the  Bible  is  no  higher  than  other  records, 
is  it  not  strange  that  not  a  line  appears  which  indicates 
in  the  least  any  such  antecedent  influence  ?  Might  we 
not  reasonably  count  on  the  leader  and  lawgiver  of  Israel 
showing  some  disposition  to  associate  Eden,  man's  birth- 
place, with  the  land  of  promise,  which  he  longed  to  reach, 
and  which  he  saw  in  the  distance  as  Israel's  future  home  ? 
Yet,  in  this  remarkable  history,  not  one  of  these  defects 
appears.  Vast  in  its  outline,  it  is  yet  so  scrupulously 
strict  in  its  minuter  details,  that  it  may  be  read  without 
dubiety,  not  only  in  the  midst  of  the  exactest  records  of 
antiquity,  but  in  the  light  of  those  modern  discoveries  in 
physical  science  which  bear  most  directly  on  its  state- 
ments. In  reliableness  and  in  consistency,  it  stands 
alone.  The  myths  of  heathenism  regarding  the  origin 
of  the  world  can  be  easily  separated  from  it.  They  are 
all  rebuked  by  its  accuracy.  While  it  contains  every 
element  of  truth  which  imparts  to  them  any  coherency 
which  they  possess,  it  gives  no  place  to  their  grotesque 
and  deformed  traditions. 

Whence  this  singularly  exact  and  most  impressive 
record  ?      In  the  midst  of  that  intellectual  and  supersti- 


28  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tious  chaos  which,  according  to  some  theorists,  antiquity 
at  first  presented,  how  arose  this  bright,  solid,  and  won- 
drously  harmonious  system  ?  Traditions  could  not  aid 
Moses.  They  only  darkened  while  they  multiplied  the 
elements  of  confusion.  Had  he  really,  as  some  suppose, 
the  sagacity  to  select,  and  the  skill  to  combine,  separate 
truths  as  to  creation,  while  he  cast  aside  the  errors  or  the 
refuse  of  ages  ?  Before  we  can  answer  that  question,  we 
require  to  pass  in  review  the  grotesque  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  all  the  surrounding  nations  at  the  time  in  which 
he  lived,  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  the  defective  schol- 
arship of  the  priests,  and  the  absence  of  attainments  in 
natural  science ;  and  we  must  inquire  into  the  mere  pos- 
sibility of  Moses  or  of  any  other  man,  however  refined  in 
feeling  and  profound  in  thoughtfulness,  producing  of  him- 
self such  a  history  as  shines  in  the  first  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis. The  production  of  such  a  record  as  that  out  of  the 
materials  then  existing,  may  be  held  as  beyond  the  capa- 
bility of  any  unaided  human  intellect.  We  do  not  reason 
here  regarding  the  inspiration  of  the  record  ;  we  are 
dealing  only  with  the  superiority  of  the  Bible  record  over 
all  others,  as  presumptive  evidence  that  it  is  worthy  not 
only  of  careful  study,  but  of  our  unhesitating  acceptance. 
It  does  not  avail,  for  the  settlement  of  this  question, 
to  say  that  the  singular  excellence  of  the  Bible  account 
of  creation  is  due  to  the  comparatively  pure  and  correct 
views  of  the  Divine  Being  which  were  held  by  the  He- 
brews ;  for  there  is  this  prior  question,  How  came  the 
Hebrews  to  have  these  correct  views  ?  With  their 
acknowledged  tendency  to  idolatry  and  to  other  heathen 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  29 

practices,  how  is  it  that  they  preserved  this  Historic  gem 
in  undimmed  lustre  ?  If  this  history  is  indeed  to  be 
regarded  as  no  more  than  a  mere  deduction  from  differ- 
ent traditions  by  a  philosophic  thinker,  it  is  certainly  a 
solitary  result  in  the  region  of  human  effort.  It  has  no 
parallel.  In  exactness,  in  splendor,  in  magnitude,  and  in 
far-reaching  insight,  there  can  be  found  no  similar  result 
in  the  history  of  the  most  cultivated  nations  of  either 
ancient  or  modern  times. 

Passing  from  this  portion  of  Bible  history,  as  distinct 
from  the  most  widely-received  cosmogonies,  let  us  exam- 
ine its  constituent  sections  in  their  mutual  relations. 
Can  they  be  adjusted  to  one  another  ?  And  can  they  be 
satisfactorily  harmonized  with  the  facts  of  science  ? 

II.    A  BEGINNING. 

* 

In  the  very  first  verse  we  have  an  announcement 
which  distances  all  that  natural  science  can  reach  or 
reveal :  "  In  the  beginning,  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth."  The  doctrine  of  creation  confronts  us.  The 
origination  of  matter,  as  against  its  eternal  existence,  is 
proclaimed.  God  is  directly  connected  with  the  universe. 
As  already  indicated,  the  last  position  which  natural  sci- 
ence can  reach,  and  which  limits  natural  theology,  is  the 
starting-point  of  Biblical  or  systematic  theology.  It 
begins  where  the  others  end.  It  gives  no  shelter  to 
pantheism  or  atheism.  Both  are  alike  repudiated.  God 
is  not  set  forth  as  a  mere  power  moving  within  the  mys- 
terious haze  of  infinity,  and  having  no  more  relation  to 
this  world  and  its  inhabitants  than  the  cold  gaze  of  a 

3* 


30  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

distant  star.  There  is  neither  hesitancy  nor  ambiguity. 
By  this  positive  exclusion  of  eternity  from  the  existence 
of  the  universe,  and  by  repelling-  the  idea  of  accidental 
creation,  the  fact  of  a  beginning  is  raised  in  the  Bible 
not  only  above  all  the  entangling  speculations  of  recent 
philosophy,  but  above  the  boldest  reasonings  of  modern 
skepticism.  This  is,  indeed,  in  some  instances,  frankly 
admitted  by  those  who  have  pushed  the  discoveries  of 
science  to  their  present  limit.  They  tell  us  that  however 
much  farther  they  may  hereafter  proceed,  they  have  no 
hope  of  gaining  the  least  insight  into  that  origination  of 
matter  of  which  the  Scriptures  speak.  This  point  they 
regard  as  beyond  the  aim  of  the  sciences,  for  each  is 
restricted  to  its  own  facts  and  laws,  and  is  necessarily 
silent  in  reference  to  history  antecedent  to  itself.  "  To 
ascend  tq  the  origin  of  things,"  says  Sir  John  Herschel, 
"and  speculate  on  creation,  is  not  the  business  of  the 
natural  philosopher."* 

Men  of  lesser  capacity,  though  of  equal  sincerity,  pro- 
fess to  despise  the  Bible  declaration  as  to  a  beginning ; 
but  their  scorn  is  unavailing,  for  their  reasoning  and 
inferences  are  rapidly  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the 
very  sciences  which  they  most  revere  and  serve.  His- 
torically, the  changed  tone  of  skepticism  is  encouraging, 
Spurning  the  subjection  of  their  reason  to  revelation,  and 
pitying  the  "  weakness  "  of  those  who  disliked  their  arro- 
gance and  rejected  their  dogmas,  skeptics  demanded 
proof  of  a  beginning,  and  evidence  for  the  probability  of 
a  close  or  change  in  the  future. 

*  Preliminary  Discourse  on  the  Study  of  Natural  Philosophy,  p.  38. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  31 

But  accomplished  Christian  apologists  found  it  vain 
to  reason  with  those  who  eagerly  paid  servile  homage  to 
Plato,  while  they  ridiculed  Moses,  and  who  carried  the 
principles  which  Newton  enunciated  beyond  their  legiti- 
mate application.  They  were  constrained  to  be  silent, 
because  as  yet  the  sciences  gave  them  no  argument  by 
which  to  meet  the  objections  of  their  opponents.  But 
the  most  recent  findings  of  natural  philosophy  have  stri- 
kingly vindicated  the  Scriptures,  and  have  so  cast  dis- 
credit on  the  boasted  assumptions  of  an  imperfect  science, 
that  almost  no  man  of  acknowledged  eminence  can  now 
be  found  to  vindicate  the  eternity  of  the  present  cosmi- 
cal  dispensation ;  and  skeptical  theorists  have  to  content 
themselves  by  boldly  asserting  that  creation,  or  a  begin- 
ning by  the  will  of  a  Creator,  is  altogether  inconceivable. 

Some  of  the  highest  authorities  in  physical  science, 
prosecuting  their  investigation  without  the  slightest  ref- 
erence to  Scripture  statements,  have  given  them  direct 
confirmation,  and  have  set  aside  the  assertion  of  "  incon- 
ceivableness."  "  The  doctrine  of  a  resisting  medium 
leads  us  toward  a  point  which  the  nebular  hypothesis 
assumes — a  beginning  of  the  present  order  of  things. 
There  must  have  been  a  commencement  of  the  motions 
now  going  on  in  the  solar  system.  Since  these  motions, 
when  once  begun,  would  be  deranged  and  destroyed  in  a 
period  which,  however  large,  is  yet  finite,  it  is  obvious 
we  cannot  carry  their  origin  indefinitely  backwards  in 
the  range  of  past  duration.  The  argument  is  indeed 
forced  upon  our  minds,  whatever  view  we  take  of  the 
past  history  of  the  world.     Some  have  endeavored  to 


32  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

evade  its  force  by  maintaining  that  the  world,  as  it  now 
exists,  has  existed  from  eternity. .  .  .  But  we  may  observe 
that  the  doctrine  of  a  resisting  medium,  once  established, 
makes  this  imagination  untenable,  compels  us  to  go  back 
to  the  origin,  not  only  of  the  present  course  of  the  world, 
not  only  of  the  earth,  but  of  the  solar  system  itself ;  and 
thus  sets  us  forth  upon  that  path  of  research  into  the 
series  of  past  causation,  where  we  obtain  no  answer  of 
which  the  meaning  corresponds  to  our  questions,  till  we 
rest  in  the  conclusion  of  a  most  provident  and  most  pow- 
erful creating  intelligence."* 

And  the  following  results,  stated  by  Sir  William 
Thomson,  are,  by  their  definiteness,  very  encouraging  to 
the  Bible  student,  confirming  the  declarations  of  the 
Scriptures,  regarding  not  only  the  commencement,  but 
the  close,  of  the  present  cosmical  dispensation. 

"  I.  There  is  at  present,  in  the  material  world,  a  uni- 
versal tendency  to  the  dissipation  of  mechanical  energy. 

"2.  Any  restoration  of  mechanical  energy,  without 
more  than  equivalent  dissipation,  is  impossible  to  inani- 
mate material  processes,  and  is  probably  never  effected 
by  means  of  organized  matter,  either  endowed  with  vege- 
table life  or  subjected  to  the  will  of  an  animated  crea- 
ture. 

"  3.  Within  a  finite  period  of  time  past,  the  earth 
must  have  been,  and  within  a  finite  period  of  time  to 
come,  the  earth  must  again  be,  unfit  for  habitation  of 
man  as  at  present  constituted,  unless  operations  have 
been  or  are  to  be  performed,  which  are  impossible  un- 

*  Bridgewater  Treatise>  by  Dr.  Whewell,  p.  206.     Edition,  1S33. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  S3 

der  the  laws  to  which  the  known  operations  going  on  at 
present  in  the  material  world  are  subject."* 

That  statement  is  itself  a  valuable  contribution  to 
Biblical  apologetics.  Inexorable  fact  and  demonstration 
have  not  only  dissipated  perpetually  recurrent  theories 
in  reference  to  the  eternity  of  the  present  material  sys- 
tem, but  furnished  presumptive  evidence  of  a  new  and 
higher  order  of  existences.  These  remarkable  conclu- 
sions not  only  confirm  the  Bible  declaration  as  to  a  com- 
mencement, but  with  prophetic  directness  they  sustain 
its  delineations  of  change  and  dissolution,  and  of  the 
establishment  of  "  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth." 

III.    A    CLOSE. 

The  reasoning  which  has  established  a  "  beginning," 
has  also  so  distinctly  demonstrated  a  close,  that  although, 
historically,  we  should  reserve  for  a  future  stage  our  brief 
discussion  of  the  subject,  yet,  logically,  we  have  suffi- 
cient warrant  for  noticing  it  here.  The  commencement 
and  the  close  are  so  linked  together  in  our  cosmical  his- 
tory, that  what  affects  the  one  influences  the  other. 
Accordingly,  while  astronomy  has  given  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  Scriptures,  geology  has  been  no  less  de- 
cided a  witness  to  both  a  beginning  and  a  close.  In 
subjecting  the  assumptions  of  geological  theorists  to  the 
tests  of  natural  philosophy,  Sir  William  Thomson  has 
given  a  salutary  check  to  unregulated  speculation,  and 
has  freed  the  question  of  time  from  some  unnecessarily 
distracting  elements. 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  1852. 


34  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Apart  from  his  special  line  of  investigation,  geolo- 
gists have  come  to  the  same  conclusion  with  him  regard- 
ing a  commencement ;  the  difference  between  them  and 
him  is  in  the  length  of  time  backward  to  that  commence- 
ment. "  There  is  not,"  say  Lyell,  "  an  existing  stratum 
in  the  body  of  the  earth  which  geology  has  laid  bare, 
which  cannot  be  traced  back  to  a  time  when  it  was  not ; 
and  there  is  not  an  existing  species  of  plants,  or  animals, 
which  cannot  be  referred  to  a  time  when  it  had  no  place 
in  the  world.  Their  beginnings  are  discoverable  in  suc- 
ceeding cycles  of  time.  It  can  be  demonstrated  that  man 
also  had  a  beginning,  and  all  the  species  contemporary 
with  him,  and  that,  therefore,  the  present  state  of  the 
organized  world  has  not  been  sustained  from  eternity." 
"It  is  beyond  dispute,  and  is  proved  by  the  physical  re- 
searches of  the  earth,  that  these,  the  visible  forms  ot 
organic  life,  had  a  beginning  in  time."*  These  conclu- 
sions are  incontrovertible  ;  the  difficulties  which  many 
have  felt  have  arisen  from  the  unwarrantable  extension  of 
time  for  the  dawn  of  life-forms,  and  for  their  develop- 
ment. Millions  of  millions  of  years  have  been  claimed 
for  certain  theories  as  to  the  beginning  and  the  progress 
of  life  ;  and,  apart  altogether  from  the  Bible  record,  the 
question  was  ever  forcing  itself  on  the  unprejudiced  stu- 
dent, how  determine  whether  the  earth,  in  these  bygone 
ages,  could  possibly  be  the  home  of  life  ?  What  evidence 
is  there  that  the  physical  conditions  of  the  earth  were 
such  that  it  could  sustain  plants  and  animals  in  even 
Jieir  most  rudimentary  forms  ?     With  a  view  to  the  set- 

*  "  Sedgwick's  Discourse,"  p.  17. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  35 

tlement  of  this  question,  Sir  William  Thomson  has  rigid- 
ly applied  to  the  gradual  cooling  of  the  globe  and  its 
motions,  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy.  In  a  very 
suggestive  paper  on  "  Geological  Time,"  in  which  he 
has  considered  the  retardation  of  the  earth's  rotation,  he 
has  made  the  following  striking  statement  :  "  But  if  you 
go  back  to  ten  thousand  million  years  ago — which  I  be- 
lieve will  not  satisfy  some  geologists — the  earth  must 
have  been  rotating  more  than  twice  as  fast  as  at  present ; 
and  if  it  had  been  solid  then,  it  must  be  now  something 
totally  different  from  what  it  is.  Now,  here  is  a  direct 
opposition  between  physical  astronomy  and  modern  geol- 
ogy, as  represented  by  a  very  large,  very  influential, 
and,  I  may  also  add,  in  many  respects  philosophical  and 
sound  body  of  geological  investigators,  constituting  per- 
haps a  majority  of  British  geologists.  It  is  quite  certain 
that  a"  great  mistake  has  been  made — that  British  popu- 
lar geology,  at  the  present  time,  is  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  principles  of  natural  philosophy.  Without  going 
into  details,  I  may  say  it  is  no  matter  whether  the 
earth's  lost  time  is  twenty-two  seconds,  or  considerably 
more  or  less  than  twenty  seconds  in  a  century,  the  prin- 
ciple is  the  same.  There  cannot  be  uniformity.  The  earth 
is  filled  with  evidence  that  it  has  not  been  going  on  for 
ever  in  the  present  state,  and  that  there  is  a  process  of 
events  towards  a  state  infinitely  different  from  the 

PRESENT."* 

That  is  a  remarkable  finding.     It  corroborates  proph- 
ecy.    In  delineating  the  close  of  the  present  system,  the 

*  "Geological  Time,"  p.  16. 


3  6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Bible  has  done  what  no  other  book  has  ever  attempted. 
That  "  there  is  a  process  of  events  towards  a  state  infi- 
nitely different  from  the  present,"  is  a  conclusion  of  the 
greatest  interest  to  us  ;  and  it  encourages  those  to  hold 
their  position  firmly  who  refuse  to  accept,  as  pictorial, 
or  as  figures  of  speech,  the  direct  and  literally  historical 
statements  of  Scripture  regarding  the  dissolution  of  the 
present  order  of  our  system.  We  cannot  modify  them 
without  deservedly  incurring  serious  reproach. 

It  is  not  long  since  every  passage  in  the  Bible  refer- 
ring to  the  dissolution  of  the  present  economy,  was  ex- 
posed to  the  ridicule  of  a  merciless  skepticism  ;  and 
Bible  expositors  abandoned  truths  which  they  should 
have  held  fast  and  defended.  While  there  are  descrip- 
tions in  which  the  terms  "heaven  and  earth"  refer  only 
to  dispensational  changes,  and  while  some  prophecies 
tell  of  revolutions  in  the  Jewish  nation,  and  of  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity,  there  still  remains  so  much  that 
is  neither  figurative  nor  symbolical,  that  doubt  is  inad- 
missible. Let  us  note  some  of  those  prophetic  descrip- 
tions which  are  definitely  historical  and  forbid  modifica- 
tion. "  Of  old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands.  They  shall 
perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure  ;  yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax 
old  like  a  garment  :  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them, 
and  they  shall  be  changed."  Psa.  102  :  25,  26.  In  strains 
lofty  as  the  Psalmist's  Isaiah  unfolds  the  future :  "  And 
all  the  host  of  heaven  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  heavens 
shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll."  Isa.  34:4.  "  Lift 
up  your  eyes  to  the  heavens,  and  look  upon  the  earth 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


37 


beneath  ;  for  the  heavens  shall  vanish  away  like  smoke,  and 
the  earth  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment,  and  they  that  dwell 
therein  shall  die  in  like  manner  ;  but  my  salvation  shall  be 
for  ever,  and  my  righteousness  shall  not  be  abolished." 
Isa.  51:6.  Although  such  passages  as  these,  taken  sepa- 
rately, cannot  be  the  basis  of  any  very  decided  conclu- 
sion literally,  yet  collectively,  and  especially  when  asso- 
ciated with  New  Testament  teachings,  they  do  possess 
legitimate  significance  and  weight.  The  saying  of  Jesus 
implied  future  change  when  he  said,  "  Heaven  and  earth 
shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 
Matt.  24:35.  And  have  we  not  all  been  familiar  from 
childhood  with  the  overawing  declarations  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  John  :  "  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a 
thief  in  the  night  ;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass 
away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are 
therein,  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing  then  that  all  these 
things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons  ought 
ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness  !"  2  Pet. 
3  :  10.  In  the  no  less  sublime  description  of  the  Apo- 
calyptic Seer,  the  fact  of  a  universal  change  is  assumed  : 
"And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  :  for  the  first 
heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away ;  and  there 
was  no  more  sea."     Rev.  21:1. 

If  these  and  similar  descriptions  do  not  foreshadow 
a  vast  physical  revolution,  language  is  meaningless. 
There  is  no  ambiguity  to  shroud  mistakes.  As  literal, 
these  delineations  must  be  rejected  or  accepted.     There 

is  no  middle  course  nor  neutral  ground.     Science,  there- 
at 


38  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

fore,  if  not  silent,  must  confirm  or  confute  them.  And 
science,  as  we  have  already  seen,  in  the  conclusion  of 
Sir  William  Thomson,  is  giving  them  singular  confirma- 
tion. The  oft-repeated  assertion  of  olden  skepticism, 
"  All  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of 
the  creation,"  2  Pet.  3 :  14,  has  been  swept  aside. 

New  testimonies  to  the  same  truths  have  of  late  been 
multiplied.  The  heavens  themselves,  apparently  the 
stablest  of  all  existences,  show  very  marvellous  changes. 
Stars  long  known  have  been  lost ;  they  have  disappeared 
in  the  abysses  of  space,  and  their  name  alone  remains. 
No  longer  ago  than  May,  1 866,  the  splendors  of  an  appa- 
rently new  star  in  the  constellation  Corona  Borealis  ar- 
rested the  attention  of  astronomical  students.  Anxiously 
watched  by  competent  observers  in  separate  localities, 
its  changes  were  accurately  noted  and  compared.  There 
could  be  no  exaggeration  nor  illusion.  In  Birmingham, 
Manchester,  Tuam,  Rochester,  London,  Brussels,  Canada 
West,  telescopes  were,  without  concert,  turned  to  it,  and 
keen  eyes  were  riveted  on  every  unexpected  phase.  It 
rose  in  its  magnificent  brilliancy ;  it  slowly  waned ;  it 
disappeared  ;  it  has  perished,  "as  lesser  things  perished 
before."  Hath  God  smitten  it?  By  what  terrible  ca- 
tastrophe has  it  been  overwhelmed?  The  light  which 
burst  forth  many  ages  ago,  has  come  in  its  course  to  us 
only  now,  to  remind  us  that  the  heavens  are  in  the  hands 
of  a  Mighty  Ruler,  whose  will  is  sovereign,  and  who 
alone  is  unchangeable. 

The  astronomer  royal  has  expressed  his  belief  in 
the  burning  of  that  distant  world.     Inflammable  gases, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  39 

combining,  it  has  been  supposed,  gave  to  it  the  appear- 
ance by  which  observers  were  dazzled  and  impressed. 
But  without  accepting  or  even  recording  conjectures 
about  the  details  of  the  conflagration,  it  is  enough  for 
our  argument  that  a  change  of  such  magnitude  has 
taken  place,  and  that  it  is  one  of  a  series.  It  proves  that 
the  heavens  are  not  so  adjusted  as  to  be  eternally  and 
exactly  in  the  same  state,  and  that  as  much  instability  is 
now  known  to  exist  as  to  constitute  presumptive  evidence 
on  behalf  of  St.  Peter's  declaration.  The  eternal  con- 
servation of  the  universe,  in  its  present  connections,  can 
no  longer  be  held  as  a  fundamental  truth  in  science. 
It  is  a  fundamental  error.  The  possibility  of  the  earth 
being  consumed  by  fire  is  not  disputed.  The  conflagra- 
tion of  distant  worlds  is  an  unquestioned  fact ;  and  it 
needs  but  a  slight  alteration  in  the  position  of  the  earth, 
in  its  shape,  in  the  direction  of  its  axis,  or  in  the  velocity 
of  its  motion,  to  give  an  entirely  hew  character  to  the 
globe.  A  delicate  alteration  in  the  atmosphere  alone, 
might  instantly  render  the  earth  uninhabitable.  "  Under 
a  thinner  air,  the  torrid  zone  might  be  wrapped  in  eternal 
snow ;  under  a  denser  air,  and  with  different  refracting 
powers,  the  earth  and  all  that  is  therein  might  be  burned 
up.  * 

In  a  vast  economy  regulated  by  law,  there  may  be, 
as  astronomical  science  teaches,  a  tendency  to  dissolution, 
slow  but  sure,  which  will  produce,  through  the  confusion 
and  overthrow  of  existing  adjustments,  such  amazing 
results  literally  as  the  Bible  has  foretold. 

"  Reign  of  Law,"  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  p.  53. 


4o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

The  globe  is  carrying"  within  itself  volcanic  forces 
sufficient  to  dislocate  and  overwhelm  its  inhabited  crust, 
if  only  the  balance  of  pressure  and  upheaval  be  in  the 
least  degree  destroyed ;  and  chemistry  has  long  attested 
the  facility  of  a  universal  overthrow  and  conflagration. 
The  subtlest  and  most  delicate  combinations  are  invested 
with  such  tremendous  power,,  that  they  require  but 
slight  modification  to  insure  a  literal  fulfilment  of  the 
apostolic  prophecy  regarding  the  heavens  passing  away 
"with  a  great  noise,"  and  the  earth  and  its  works  being 
"burnt  up."  There  is  to  be  "dissolution,"  not  annihila- 
tion ;  there  is  to  be  a  new  economy,  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth.  The  sublime  announcements  of  St.  Peter 
and  of  the  Apocalyptic  Seer,  so  long  accepted  by  many 
apologists  as  invested  with  merely  poetic  drapery,  and  so 
long  sneered  at  as  sensational  by  rigorous  physicists, 
have  been  rescued  from  misinterpretation.  The  state- 
ment that  there  "shall  be  no  more  sea,"  can  only  be 
ridiculed  by  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  truths  which 
the  natural  sciences  have  already  evolved  and  vindicated. 

These  possibilities  might,  of  course,  be  accepted  with- 
out a  very  strong  probability  of  any  actual  changes 
beyond  what  are  now  transpiring,  and  they  constitute 
only  presumptive  evidence  on  the  side  of  Scripture  ;  but, 
in  Sir  William  Thomson's  demonstration  of  an  inevit- 
able change  which  will  render  this  earth  unfit  for  man's 
existence,  unless  there  be  new  operations,  which  are 
impossible  without  the  interposition  of  a  power  not  now 
manifested,  we  have  an  unimpeachable  warrant  for  the 
literal  interposition  of  St.  Peter's  delineation  of  the  close 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  41 

of  the  history  of  our  world  as  now  constituted.  It  has  a 
weight  and  an  emphasis  which  no  strictly  theological  or 
critical  disquisition  can  ever  possess ;  and  is  it  not  most 
encouraging  to  find  the  deductions  of  natural  philosophy 
becoming  thus  the  expositors  and  vindicators  of  reveal- 
ed truth,  as  they  fully  aver  all  that  the  Bible  has  an- 
nounced regarding  not  only  the  past,  but  the  future 
history  of  the  globe  ?  To  those  who  have  passed  through 
the  jungle-like  speculations  and  propositions  of  the  olden 
atheists,  regarding  an  "infinite  series,"  and  the  more 
recent  metaphysical  reasonings  prosecuted  to  prove  the 
eternity  of  the  present  system  of  organic  and  inorganic 
beings,  it  must  be  an  unspeakable  relief  on  coming  forth 
beneath  the  clear  sky  of  definite  truths,  to  find  the 
Bible  and  natural  philosophy  blending  their  lights  "as 
suns  upon  each  other  shining."  That  the  universe  is 
not  eternal,  may  be  held  now  to  be  incontrovertible. 
Creation  has  been ;  and  questions  as  to  the  date  of  the 
beginning  are  of  comparatively  subordinate  interest. 
There  is,  however,  one  other  subject  so  closely  connected 
with  this  part  of  our  inquiry,  that  it  must  be  examined. 
It  is — 

IV.    THE  IMPORT  OF  '"  IN  THE  BEGINNING." 

Is  this  the  beginning  of  all  beginnings  ?  or  is  it  the 
beginning  of  the  formation  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth 
out  of  materials  which  had  already  been  in  existence  ? 
Some  eminent  Jewish  commentators  deny  that  this  is  the 
beginning  of  all  beginnings ;  they  exclude  from  this  sen- 
tence the  idea  of  origination,  and  they  limit  the  state- 

4* 


42  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ment  to  the  forming  or  shaping  of  materials.*  They 
found  their  conclusion  on  the  assumption  that  the  "  in 
the  beginning  "  is,  as  grammarians  express  it,  in  the  con- 
struct state,  and  that  thus  it  is  limited  by  something  of 
which  it  is  the  beginning.  They  do  not  admit  that  the 
Hebrew  word  Bara  expresses  the  originating  of  all  crea- 
tion ;  and  the  question  ultimately  turns  on  the  greater  or 
less  comparative  importance  which  we  attach  to  the  first 
creation  of  matter,  and  to  the  first  adjustment  of  its  forms 
or  the  first  impulse  of  its  laws.  The  relative  value  of 
creating  matter  and  of  ordering  its  structure  and  func- 
tions, is  an  interesting  yet  not  a  very  profitable  subject 
of  discussion.  Professor  Tayler  Lewis  makes  the  crea- 
tion of  matter  the  lesser  work.  "  Taken  as  a  fact,"  he 
says,  "  it  is  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  the  Divine  works,  if 
we  may  be  allowed  to  make  any  comparisons  among  them. 
It  is  simply  an  exercise  of  the  Divine  strength.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  giving  form  to  matter,  which  is  so  clearly 
revealed  as  the  true  creative  stage,  is  the  work  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom,  and  might  be  supposed  worthy  of  God, 
as  an  exercise  of  his  infinite  intelligence,  even  if  it  had 
no  other  than  an  artistic  end.  The  carrying  these  forms 
into  the  region  of  the  moral,  or  the  impressing  moral 
designs  upon  them — in  other  words,  building  the  world 
as  the  abode  of  life,  and  the  residence  of  moral  and  spir- 
itual beings  capable  of  witnessing  and  declaring  the 
glory  of  the  Creator — is  the  work  of  Divine  Love.  In 
revising  this  scale  of  dignities,  the  actually  lower  comes  to 

*  See  Professor  Tayler  Lewis  on  the  Essential  Ideas  of  Creation,  in 
"Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  pp.  126-130. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  43 

be  regarded  as  the  higher  and  the  greater,  merely  because 
it  is  the  more  remote  from  us."*  There  is  considerable 
force  in  this  reasoning,  as  against  those  who  seek  to  dis- 
place God  from  the  creative  formation  or  the  evolution 
of  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  but  it  has  little  interest  for 
the  sincere  Bible  student,  because,  between  the  creation 
of  matter  and  its  harmonious  and  productive  evolutions, 
we  find  it  hard  to  establish  values.  Attributes  that  are 
infinite — power,  wisdom,  love — have  to  be  associated 
with  both,  and  in  their  light  all  distinctions  are  lost. 
To  describe  the  building  of  the  world  as  merely  prepara- 
tory to  its  being  made  the  abode  of  moral  and  spiritual 
existences,  does  not  elucidate  the  subject  nor  lessen  dif- 
ficulties, because  the  very  presence  of  these  moral  beings 
betokens  of  itself  prior  creative  action.  While  conflict- 
ing criticisms  have  been  pressed  on  us  as  to  the  special 
import  of  the  term  bara,  create,  the  greater  weight  of 
scholarship  is,  I  think,  on  the  side  of  its  expressing  the 
origination  of  this  universe — that  is,  the  beginning  of  all 
beginnings,  the  creation  out  of  nothing.  "To  the  idea 
of  a  creation  out  of  nothing,"  says  Havernick,  "no  an- 
cient cosmogony  has  ever  risen,  neither  in  the  myths  nor 
the  philosophemes  of  the  ancient  world.  By  the  peculi- 
arity that  the  Biblical  cosmogony  has,  for  its  fundamental 
idea,  a  creation  from  nothing,  it  is  placed  in  a  category 
distinct  from  all  other  myths.  .Hence,  recently,  there 
appears  above  all  things  a  disposition  to  deny  that  this 
is  contained  in  the  history  of  creation,  but  certainly  with- 
out success."  In  the  commencement  of  the  Gospel  by 
*  "Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  129. 


44  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

St.  John,  we  have  proof  that  this  is  the  beginning  of  all 
beginnings,  when  it  is  said,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word:  the  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God:  all 
things  were  made  by  him." 

A  subsidiary  yet  substantial  argument  for  the  begin- 
ning in  Genesis  being  the  commencement  of  beginnings, 
lies  in  the  special  use  of  the  term  bara  as  expressive  of 
a  creative  act.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  term  is  in 
Scripture  invariably  applied  to  God,  and  never  to  any 
created  being.  God  was  known  by  the  Israelites  as 
Bore\  Creator.  Creation  is  a  divine  act — something  per- 
formed indisputably  by  God  alone ;  and  the  question  has 
lately  been  limited  to  creation  out  of  nothing,  or  a  crea- 
tion of  something  new  out  of  what  before  existed.  It  is 
admitted  that  Yatzar,  he  formed,  and  Asah,  he  made, 
may  be  used  as  applicable  to  men  ;  and  that  Bara,  he 
created,  is  alone  applicable  to  God ;  but  it  is  said  that  it 
does  not  necessarily  express  creation  out  of  nothing. 
Scholars  do  not  now  insist  on  this  exclusive  meaning. 
They  do  not  assert  that  it  never  has  such  a  meaning  ;  yet 
it  is  the  only  Hebrew  term  which  expresses  this  idea, 
and  we  have  to  look  to  the  context  and  to  the  connec- 
tions of  the  term  rather  than  to  the  term  itself,  to  deter- 
mine conclusively  which  view  should  be  taken.  "  But 
that  in  the  first  verse,"  says  Gesenius  in  his  Thesaurus, 
"  the  first  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothing,  and  in  a 
rude  and  unformed  state,  and  in  the  remainder  of  the 
first  chapter  the  elaboration  and  disposition  of  the  re- 
cently created  mass  are  set  forth,  is  proved  by  the  con- 
nections of  things  in  the  whole  of  this  chapter ;"  and  he 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  45 

adduces,  in  support  of  this  opinion,  the  conclusions  of. 
Jewish  Rabbis. 

We  are  perplexed  by  finding  that  so  distinguished  a 
writer  as  Max  Mtiller  refuses  the  conclusions  of  such 
scholars  as  Gesenius,  at  least  on  the  grounds  on  which 
they  rest  them,  and  approvingly  quotes  those  who  regard 
bara  as  properly  meaning  to  create  out  of  preexisting 
materials ;  but  let  it  be  observed  that  he  does  not  posi- 
tively preclude  its  meaning  in  any  circumstances  to  cre- 
ate out  of  nothing.*  As  bara,  in  its  most  recondite  appli- 
cation, can  refer  only  once  to  creation  as  originating 
matter,  and  afterwards,  of  course,  only  to  what  is  evolved 
as  new  from  existing  things,  its  special  meaning  must  be 
determined  by  its  connections.  The  peculiar  description, 
In  the  beginning,  gives  emphasis  also  to  the  created  which 
follows,  as  separating  what  has  begun  to  be  from  the  Cre- 
ator who  is  eternal ;  and  it  may  be  held  as  establishing 
historically  the  idea  of  an  absolute  beginning  in  time. 
Creation  can  only  be  understood  aright  as  connected  with 
the  will  of  a  personal  God.  Apart  from  God,  creation 
by  law  is  utterly  unintelligible.  Origination,  or  immedi- 
ate creation,  and  development  or  forming  in  mediate  cre- 
ation, cannot  be  studied  satisfactorily  without  reference 
to  the  will,  the  wisdom,  and  the  power  of  the  everlasting 
Ruler. 

But  it  would  be  unwise  to  dogmatize  regarding  the 

*  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  vol.  I.,  p.  135. — Interesting 
statistical  details  regarding  the  use  and  meaning  of  the  terms  which  are 
translated  create,  form,  and  make,  are  given  by  Archdeacon  Pratt  in  his 
most  admirable  work,  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance"  pp.  47,  48. 
Sixth  edition. 


46  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

absoluteness  of  this  beginning  as  the  first  of  all  begin- 
nings. In  the  measureless  past,  in  which  millions  on 
millions  of  ages  have  sunk  and  have  been  lost,  as  pebbles 
in  the  ocean,  there  may  have  been  other  universes  before 
ours,  which  have  historically  run  their  course,  fulfilled 
their  ends,  and  perished.  Brought  out  of  nothing,  they 
may  have  again  been  reduced  to  nothing.  The  fact  is 
conceivable,  though  not  the  process,  unless  we  assume 
the  eternity  of  matter ;  or  that  when  God  has  created  a 
world  out  of  nothing,  he  has  done  what  he  cannot  undo. 
Universes  may  have  come,  run  their  course,  and  gone. 
Their  histories  may  be  Creation-seasons.  Nor  can  we 
speak  absolutely  of  ours  being  the  beginning  of  all  be- 
ginnings ;  because  in  other  spheres  of  measureless  space, 
which  no  telescope  can  ever  reach,  there  may  be  other 
universes  with  earlier  beginnings  than  ours.  It  is  enough 
for  us  to  know  that  this,  our  universe,  our  heaven  and 
earth,  was  created  by  God ;  and  that  the  first  statement 
in  Genesis  proclaims  the  beginning  of  all  beginnings 
connected  with  the  history  of  our  globe.  And  we  do  no 
violence  to  reason  when  we  assume  that  He  who  made 
one  world  in  space,  made  all  worlds  in  space ;  that  He 
who  made  one  world  in  time,  made  all  worlds  in  time ; 
and  that  He  who  gave  matter  its  forms,  gave  it  also  its 
origination,  or  that  which  is  the  ground  of  all  its  forms* 

*  See  "Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis." 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  47 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  FIRST  CHAPTER  OF  GENESIS THE  ORIGIN  OF  LIGHT 

ITS  EXISTENCE  BEFORE  THE  SUN  WAS  MADE  SEPARATE- 
LY VISIBLE — THE  ORIGINATION  OF  LIFE — THE  CREA- 
TIVE DAYS. 

It  is  not  for  the  refutation  of  objectors  merely,  and  for  the  conviction 
of  doubters,  that  it  is  worth  while  to  study  the  two  volumes — that  of 
nature  and  that  of  revelation — which  Providence  has  opened  before  us, 
but  because  it  is  both  profitable  and  gratifying  to  a  well-constituted 
mind  to  trace  in  each  of  them  the  evident  handwriting  of  Him,  the 
Divine  author  of  both. — archbishop  whately. 

I.    THE  ORIGINATION  OF  LIGHT. 

The  grandeur  and  impressiveness  of  the  description 
in  the  Bible  of  the  origin  of  light,  and  of  the  introduction 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  exagger- 
ate. In  his  treatise  on  the .  Sublime,  the  Roman  poet 
Longinus  has  quoted,  with  the  highest  admiration,  "  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  Familiar  as  we  are 
with  the  description,  it  is  necessary  to  repeat  it.  "And 
God  saw  the  light  that  it  was  good  ;  and  God  divided  the 
light  from  the  darkness.  And  God  called  the  light  Day, 
and  the  darkness  he  called  Night.  And  the  evening  and 
the  morning  were  the  first  clay.  .  .  .  And  God  said,  Let 
there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  divide  the 
day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for 
seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years ;  and  let  them  be  for 
lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  give  light  upon  the 


4S  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

earth  :  and  it  was  so.  And  God  made  two  great  lights : 
the  greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to 
rule  the  night ;  he  made  the  stars  also.  And  God  set 
them  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven,  to  give  light  upon 
the  earth,  and  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night, 
land  to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness ;  and  God  saw 
that  it  was  good.  And  the  evening  and  the  morning 
were  the  fourth  day." 

The  sublimity  of  this  brief  description  has  often  been 
lost  amid  the  sneers  of  the  infidel  and  the  atheist.  "  How 
could  there  be  light  before  the  sun  ?"  was  one  of  the  tri- 
umphant questions  which  Voltaire  and  his  followers 
rarely  failed  to  press  upon  the  Bible  student.  There 
was  no  escape  from  the  difficulty ;  for  nothing  could  be 
clearer  than  the  fact  that  the  Bible  did  commit  itself  to 
the  statement  that  light  existed  before  the  sun  appeared. 
It  does  not  say,  observe,  before  the  sun-mass  or  sun-ele- 
ments existed ;  but  it  does  assert  that  there  was  light 
before  the  sun  shone  forth  in  its  visible  and  appointed 
relation  to  this  world.  The  statement  was  too  explicit 
and  too  direct  to  admit  of  any  satisfactory  explanation 
beyond  what  the  fair  reading  of  the  description  itself 
allowed :  namely,  that  there  was  light  before  the  sun  was 
visible ;  and  this  supposition — for  the  state  of  science 
admitted  of  nothing  more — was  invariably  denounced  as 
a  weak,  if  not  a  mischievous,  theological  invention.  Many 
scorned  it  as  a  superstitious  belief,  or  the  paltry  resource 
of  controversial  despair. 

But  the  mystery  has  been  receding  as  discovery  has 
advanced.     That  there  may  be  light  without  the  visible 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  49 

sun,  is  now  admitted  ;  and  it  is  not  going  farther  than 
the  facts  warrant,  to  suppose  that  light  of  old  did  thus 
exist ;  not,  perhaps,  as  absolutely  separable  from  the  sun, 
but  as  closely  connected  with  its  history.  What  was 
hidden  is  made  manifest,  as  explanatory  facts  are  being 
placed  together.  The  sun-mass  is  itself  dark,  and  around 
it  is  a  wondrous  sphere  of  light  that  is  perpetually  exhib- 
iting phenomena  which  it  does  not  lie  within  our  plan  to 
describe  minutely.  It  is  enough  to  remark  that  there 
have  been  discovered  circles  or  spheres  of  light  widening 
as  they  recede  from  the  central  mass,  which  ages  ago 
have  apparently  been  so  wide  as  to  bring  our  globe  within 
their  compass.  When  it  was  said,  "  Let  there  be  light," 
there  was  not  so  much  a  new  creation  as  the  evolution  of 
a  new  fact,  or  rather  the  presentation  of  a  new  condition 
of  things,  in  the  already  created  heaven  and  earth. 
Originally  darkness  reigned,  and  then  light  was  sum- 
moned into  existence.  "  God  commanded  the  light  to 
shine  out  of  darkness"  (2  Cor.  4:6)  wrote  St.  Paul  in  ob- 
vious reference  to  this  passage.  The  light  appears  to 
have  been  so  diffused  as  to  bring  to  our  earth,  through 
subsequent  ages,  such  supplies  as  may  have  been  best 
adapted  to  whatever  plant  or  animal  life  may  have  then 
existed.  This  view  is  sustained  by  recent  inferences  to 
which  observation  of  the  sun  has  led,  and  which  may 
render  unnecessary  the  common  supposition,  that  while 
the  sun  existed  in  its  present  form,  with  all  its  present 
forces,  its  light  was  too  much  lost  in  the  vapors  which 
hovered  over  the  earth  to  admit  of  its  being  visible,  as  it 
is  now.     That  vapors  obscured  the  light,  may  be  proba- 

5 


5o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ble ;  but  the  light,  it  would  seem, 'was  diffused  under 
conditions  different  from  those  which  now  obtain,  until 
the  fourth  day,  when  the  sun  was  made  separately  visi- 
ble.* As  light,  or  rather  a  luminous  substance,  appears 
to  have  been  diffused  beyond  the  orbit  of  our  earth,  there 
must,  therefore,  have  been  a  period  without  darkness. 
But  when  the  circumference  of  the  envelope  or  luminous 
substance  was  contracted  within  the  orbit  of  the  earth, 
there  was  darkness  alternating  with  the  light — that  is, 
of  course,  supposing  the  earth  then  as  now  revolved  on 
its  axis.  .This  would  give  the  first  day,  evening  and 
morning ;  evening,  because  the  first  contraction  of  the 
light  within  the  earth's  path  gave  such  darkness  as  may 
have  subsisted  us.  "  And  God  divided  the  light  from  the 
darkness."  Other  changes  followed,  by  which  the  waters, 
the  land,  and  the  atmosphere  were  separated ;  and  when 
these  had  been  completed,  there  appeared  vegetation  in 
varied  forms.  The  light,  in  all  likelihood,  while  passing 
into  its  present  conditions,  shone  through  vapors  which 
also  gradually  changed,  until  the  sun  and  moon  appeared 
in  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  purpose;  the  one  to  rule  the 

*  Mr.  Proctor,  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society, 
in  summing  up  the  more  striking  results  obtained  by  the  observations  of 
the  late  Solar  Eclipse,  has  confirmed  this  inference :  "  The  observation 
made  by  Liais  would  tend  to  show  that,  as  has  been  long  suspected,  the 
zodiacal  light  is  sunlight  reflected  from  cosmical  matter  travelling  contin- 
ually round  the  sun,  for  we  could  not  expect  the  solar  dark  lines  to  ap- 
pear in  so  faint  a  spectrum.  If  this  is  the  case,  the  radiated  corona  can- 
not but  be  regarded  as  only  the  innermost  part — the  core,  so  to  speak — 
of  the  zodiacal  region.  Hence,  we  should  be  led  to  recognize  the  exist- 
ence OF  ENVELOPE  AFTER  envelope  around  the  sun,  until  even  the  vast 
distance  at  which  our  earth  travels  is  reached  or  overpast."  "  The  late  Solar 
Eclipse,"  by  Richard  A.  Proctor,  B.  A.     Good  Words,  June.  1S72,  pp.  423. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  51 

day,  the  other  to  rule  the  night.  The  chief  difficulty  lies 
in  ascertaining  the  probable  extent  of  the  light  and  its 
characteristics  in  that  long  cosmical  history,  of  which  as 
yet  only  glimpses  have  been  obtained  ;  but  these  glimpses 
are  so  much  in  harmony  with  the  sacred  page,  that  the 
arrogant  charges  of  ignorance,  once  so  freely  made,  have 
almost  ceased. 

One  or  two  facts  may  be  mentioned,  as  confirming 
the  more  recent  elucidation  of  this  Scripture  statement. 
Humboldt,  in  describing  the  beauty  of  the  zodiacal  light, 
has  said:  "  The  zodiacal  light,  which  rises  in  a  pyramidal 
form,  and  constantly  contributes  by  its  mild  radiance  to 
the  external  beauty  of  the  tropical  nights,  is  either  a  vast 
nebulous  ring,  rotating  between  the  Earth  and  Mars,  or, 
less  probably,  the  exterior  stratum  of  the  solar  atmo- 
sphere."* "  For  the  last  three  or  four  nights,  between 
io°  and  140  of  north  latitude,  the  zodiacal  light  has  ap- 
peared with  a  magnificence  which  I  have  never  before 
seen.  Long  narrow  clouds  scattered  over  the  lovely 
azure  of  the  sky,  appeared  low  down  in  the  horizon,  as 
if  in  front  of  a  golden  curtain,  while  bright  varied  tints 
played  from  time  to  time  on  the  higher  clouds  ;  it  seemed 
a  second  sunset.  Towards  that  side  of  the  heavens,  the 
diffused  light  appeared  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  moon 
in  her  first  quarter."  Not  less  striking  is  his  description 
in  another  passage,  of  a  cloud  well  known  to  astrono- 
mers, passing  over'  the  heavens  luminously  and  with 
great  rapidity.  "  The  light  of  the  stars  being  thus  utterly 
shut  out,"  he  says,  "  one  might  suppose  that  surrounding 

*  Cosmos,  vol.  1,  p.  69. 


52  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

objects  would  become,  if  possible,  more  indistinct.  But 
no  :  what  was  formerly  invisible  can  now  be  clearly  seen  ; 
not  because  of  lights  from  the  earth  being  reflected  back 
by  a  cloud,  for  very  often  there  are  none ;  but  in  virtue 
of  the  light  of  the  cloud  itself,  which,  however  faint,  is  yet 
a  similitude  of  the  dazzling  light  of  the  sun.  The  exist- 
ence of  this  illuminating  power,  though  apparently  in  its 
debilitude,  we  discover  also,  in  appearance  at  least,  among 
other  orbs." 

While  these  facts  prove  the  existence  of  light  without 
the  sun  being  visible,  it  may  be  urged  that  the  light 
spoken  of  in  Genesis  not  only  made  day  and  night,  but 
it  must  have  been  sufficient  to  sustain  life.  To  suppose 
that  it  was  adequate  for  this  end  involves  no  violent  hy- 
pothesis, for  neither  plant  nor  animal  life  is  spoken  of 
until  there  has  been  a  separation  of  land  and  water.  In 
the  earlier  and  more  recent  geological  ages,  the  heat  was 
doubtless  greater  than  it  is  now ;  and  this,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  a  surrounding  vaporous  atmosphere,  and 
with  such  light  as  existed,  may  have  conduced  to  the  de- 
velopment of  whatever  plant-forms  then  prevailed.  Dif- 
ficulty in  entertaining  this  view  has  been  greatly  lessened 
by  the  fact,  that  not  only  plant  but  animal  life  may  be 
sustained  under  such  conditions  of  feeble  light,  great 
pressure,  and  intense  heat,  as  were  not  long  ago  deemed 
incredible. 

A  critical  examination  of  the  phraseology  of  the  Bi- 
ble regarding  the  light,  confirms  this  view.  The  lan- 
guage is  precise,  discriminative,  and  significant.  Moses 
uses  one  word  for  light  in  the  third  and  fourth  verses, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  53 

and  another  word  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth.  In 
the  first  instance,  when  he  speaks  of  light  essentially  as 
light,  or  as  a  mere  existence,  he  uses  the  term  Or  ;  but  in 
the  second  instance,  when  he  refers  rather  to  one  of  its  prac- 
tical purposes,  he  uses  the  term  Maor — the  instrument 
or  the  visible  source  of  light  to  our  earth  and  its  system. 
It  is  "to  give  light  upon  the  earth,"  v.  15.  That  seems  to 
be  worth  noting.  It  is  not  a  haphazard  but  a  deliberate 
distinction,  for  there  is  a  similar  discrimination  of  terms 
between  the  "  created"  of  the  first  verse,  and  the  "  made" 
of  the  sixteenth  verse.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created 
the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  but  "  God  made  two  great 
lights."  In  the  one  we  have  "  dara,"  create;  in  the 
other,  ascih,  he  made  or  fashioned  or  appointed,  of  mate- 
rials or  objects  already  created  or  existent,  the  sun  to  be 
a  light-bearer  ;  and  so  also  the  moon,  which  is  known 
not  to  have  light  either  in  itself  or  immediately  surround- 
ing it.  The  Creator  adopted  and  employed  for  this  pur- 
pose the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  may  have  introduced, 
for  the  first  time,  such  relations  as  now  exist  between 
them  and  our  atmosphere.  Adopting  the  latitude  of  inter- 
pretation which  is  warranted  by  the  use  of  distinct  terms, 
bara  and  asdk,  we  suggest  another  view.  When,  after 
the  deluge,  God  "  set  his  bow  in  the  cloud  to  be  a  token 
that  the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to  destroy 
the  earth,"  it  is  not  necessarily  an  inference  that  the 
rainbow  had  never  before  appeared.  As  all  the  physical 
conditions  on  which  it  depends  had  existed  during  man's 
history,  it  may  have  often  been  visible  ;  and,  assuming 
that  it  was  so,  it  only  received  a  new  historical  connec- 


54  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tion  when  it  was  made  a  "token"  of  the  Covenant.  In 
the  same  manner  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  may  have 
been  visible  long  before  they  were  appointed  to  be  "  for 
signs  and  for  seasons,"  and  to  fulfil  a  new  historical  rela- 
tion to  man,  as  they  ever  afterwards  rule  his  day  and 
night. 

Such  critical  statements  cannot  be  pushed  aside  as  an 
ingenious  attempt,  by  theologians,  to  save  the  Scripture 
record  from  the  consequences  of  scientific  research.  We 
are  net  ashamed  of  them.  They  have  been  recently  con- 
firmed, almost  to  the  very  letter,  by  the  remarkable  con- 
clusions of  Sir  William  Thomson  as  to  historical  changes 
in  the  constitution  of  the  sun.  He  has  demonstrated 
that  the  light  which  is  emanating  from  that  central  body, 
could  not  have  always  been  coming  from  it ;  because,  for 
ages,  the  condition  of  the  sun-mass  did  not  admit  of  it. 
At  a  comparatively  recent  period,  historically,  the  sun 
began  to  shed  its  splendor  through  space  under  its  pres- 
ent aspects.  Science  has  thus  already  dispelled,  to  a 
large  extent,  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  literal  inter- 
pretation as  to  light,  and  has  checked  intolerant  infidel- 
ity. What  has  been  achieved  is  specially  encouraging  to 
those  who  have  accepted  the  Bible  as  their  guide.  It  is 
of  the  utmost  value.  No  more  striking  confirmation  of 
the  scientific  accuracy  of  the  Scripture  record  has  of  late 
been  given,  than  that  afforded  by  recent  investigations 
of  the  present  condition  and  past  history  of  the  sun. 
While  the  creation  of  the  sun,  with  the  earth  and  the 
other  heavenly  bodies,  is  intimated  in  the  first  verse,  it  is 
not  until  ages  had  elapsed  that  the  sun  itself,  as  a  distinct 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  55 

light-giving  body,  was  adapted  to  our  globe,  and  after- 
wards connected  with  the  history  of  the  human  race. 
Surely  these  remarkable  confirmations  which  natural  phi- 
losophy, with  unintentional  directness,  is  bringing  to  the 
Word  of  God,  may  well  evoke  our  gratitude  and  deepen 
our  sense  of  responsibility. 

II.    THE  ORIGINATION  OF  LIFE 

is  another  fact  which  science,  as  well  as  Scripture,  has 
connected  with  the  hand  of  the  great  Creator. 

It  is  after  the  introduction  of  light,  after  the  separa- 
tion of  the  land  from  the  water,  and  after  the  globe  had 
received  its  encircling  atmosphere,  that  life  was  intro- 
duced. Geology  confirms  this.  It  has  been  clearly 
proved  that  life,  in  the  geological  history  of  the  globe,  so 
far  from  being  of  eternal  duration,  has  had  a  compara- 
tively recent  origin.  Reliable  testimony  is  abundant, 
and  might  be  largely  adduced.  "  The  infinite  series  of 
the  atheists  of  former  times,"  says  Hugh  Miller,  "can 
have  no  place  in  modern  science :  all  organic  existences, 
recent  or  extinct,  vegetable  or  animal,  have  had  their 
beginning  ;  there  was  a  time  when  they  were  not."*  The 
inference  of  the  geologist  has  been  confirmed  by  the 
demonstration  of  the  natural  philosopher.  Sir  William 
Thomson  has  dissipated  all  speculation  regarding  an 
"  infinite  series "  of  life-forms,  by  proving,  as  we  have 
already  stated,  that  they  could  not  extend  over  "millions 
of  millions  of  years,"  because,  assuming  that  the  heat 
has  been  uniformly  conducted  out  of  the  earth,  as  it  is 

*  "  Testimony  of  the  Rocks,"  p.  197. 


5  6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

now,  it  must  have  been  so  intense,  within  a  comparatively 
limited  period,  as  to  be  capable  of  melting  a  mass  of  rock 
equal  to  the  bulk  of  the  whole  earth. 

Life  has  its  secrets.  Its  beginning  is  with  God.  He 
is  the  self-existent  Life.  He  is  the  Lord  and  giver  of 
life.  His  uncreated  life  passeth  knowledge.  It  is  vain 
to  inquire  when  did  life,  as  separate  from  him,  begin  to 
be  ?  and  what  its  forms,  angelic  or  archangelic  ?  We 
stand  helpless  before  insoluble  problems.  We  are  shad- 
owed by  inscrutable  mystery.  Alike  in  its  lowest  and 
highest  forms,  life  is  in  Scripture  connected  with  God's 
hand.  Vital  force  is  not  the  result  of  inorganic  matter. 
It  controls  matter ;  it  subordinates  its  element  to  its  own 
expansion  and  growth.  By  its  action,  chemical  and  me- 
chanical forces  are  modified  or  suspended.  In  the  labor- 
atory of  nature,  no  one  has  ever  detected  the  evolution 
of  life  from  either  inorganic  or  dead  matter.  Professor 
Huxley  has  ingeniously  made  what  he  calls  protoplasm 
"  the  formal  basis  of  life.  It  is  the  clay  of  the  potter," 
he  says,  "  which,  bake  it  and  paint  it  as  he  will,  remains 
clay,  separated  by  artifice,  and  not  by  nature,  from  the 
commonest  brick  or  sun-dried  clod  ;  thus  it  becomes  clear 
that  living  powers  are  cognate,  and  that  all  living  forms 
are  fundamentally  of  one  character."*  But  this  explana- 
tion cannot  be  accepted  as  removing  difficulties  regarding 
the  origin  or  "  basis  of  life."  Protoplasm  is  not  uniform  ; 
it  is  not  chemically  one.  It  varies  in  different  plants 
and  animals.  "  For  the  protoplasm  of  the  worm,  we  must 
go  to  the  worm ;  and  for  that  of  the  toadstool,  to  the 
*  "Physical  Basis  of  Life — Lay  Sermons,"  p.  129.     Third  edition. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  57 

toadstool.  In  fact,  if  all  living  beings  came  from  proto- 
plasm, it  is  quite  as  certain  that  but  for  living  beings 
protoplasm  would  disappear."*  Thus,  the  difficulty  is 
not  solved,  nor  even  lessened ;  and  the  questions  still 
come  to  be  answered,  whence  protoplasm  ?  whence  its 
varieties  ?  and  whence  Life?  Nor  is  the  difficulty- 
removed  by  the  "cell"  system,  on  which  some  German 
histologists  have  rested  with  so  much  confidence.  Ad- 
mitting that  cells  maybe  self-complete  organisms,  moving, 
growing,  reproducing  themselves  ;  and  also  that  "  brain 
cells  only  generate  brain  cells — and  bone,  bone  cells ;" 
we  come  no  nearer  the  origin  of  life.  If  cells  can  come 
only  from  cells,  whence  the  first  cell  or  the  first  series  ? 
In  Dr.  Bastian's  recent  elaborate  work,  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  show  the  "  Beginning  of  Life  ;"  but  in  such 
a  way,  arid  to  such  an  extent,  that  his  principles,  if  valid, 
should  have  completely  altered  ere  now  the  whole  com- 
plexion of  the  LiFE-history  and  condition  of  our  globe. 
M.  Pasteur,  whose  name  is  honored  wherever  exactness 
in  scientific  research  is  valued,  by  a  series  of  experiments, 
of  which  Professor  Huxley  has  said,  "  They  appear  to  me 
now,  as  they  did  seven  years  ago,  to  be  models  of  accurate 
experimentation  and  logical  reasoning,"  has  proved  that 
there  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  living  organisms  can 
come  forth  by  spontaneous  generation  from  unorganized 
matter.  At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion in  Edinburgh,  it  was  an  accepted  truth  that  "life 
can  come  only  from  life."  Darwin  himself  has  admitted 
this  when  he  traces  the  commencement  of  all  animated 

*  "  As  Regards  Protoplasm,"  by  Dr.  Stirling. 


58  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ences  to  the  Creator  having  breathed  life  into  two 

or  three  simple  forms.  The  now  almost  universal  ac- 
knowledgment that  life  has  its  origin  from  God  alone,  is 
another  triumph  of  science  on  the  side  of  Scripture. 

In  the  Bible,  the  '..  record  of  creation  has  a 

scientific  basis  ;  but  so  great  is  its  prevailing  simplicity 
of  statement,  that  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the  tact.  In- 
stead of  commencing'  his  record  with  the  introduction  of 
Man  as  the  being  most  prominent  and  the  most  influen- 
tial— as  the  being-,  indeed,  whom  unguided  reason  most 
naturally  would  have  first  introduced — Moses  tells  us 
that  the  .'.  rms  of  life  commenced  to  exist — plants 

first,  animals  next.  This  is  as  it  ought  to  be.  Plants 
drawing  their  nourishment  from  inorganic  substances, 
we]  e  first  created  ;  and.  as  animals  could  live  only  on 
plants  or  animals,  they  were  next  introduced.  "And 
God  said.  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  his 
kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth :  and  it  was 
so."  Then  follows,  in  the  succession  of  life,  the  origina- 
:'  animals  in  the  sea  and  on  the  land.  Vegetable 
forms  on  the  carefully-prepared  mate- 

rials in  the  soil  and  the  water  ;  they  manufacture  food 
for  themselves,  and.  storing  it  up  in  their  own  fabric, 
they  proA  de  support  for  the  succeeding  animals.  The 
>rd  thus  harmonizes  with  that  which  science  has 
shown  to  be  necessary.  Whence  all  this  accuracy?  Can 
is    ly  be  the  outcome  of  chance  ? 

r  significant  reference  in  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  verses  to  one  of  the  distinguishing  charac:cr- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  59 

istics  of  botanical  science,  which  may  be  legitimately 
acknowledged.  "And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring 
forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree 
yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon 
the  earth:  and  it  was  so.  And  the  earth  brought  forth 
grass,  and  herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind,  and  the  tree 
yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  was  in  itself,  after  his  kind  : 
and  God  saw  that  it  was  good."  The  brief  description  is 
repeated  with  emphasis,  as  if  it  were  intended  to  be  no- 
ticed. Its  aptness,  as  related  to  botanical  science,  will  be. 
acknowledged  even  by  those  who  refuse  to  admit  other- 
wise its  importance.  While  the  Linnasan  system  of 
classification  according  to  distinctions  in  the  flower,  was 
useful,  it  was  felt  to  be  inadequate,  and  in  some  degree 
unscientific.  Botanists  strove  to  establish  a  more  natu- 
ral method,  and  they  have  succeeded  by  making  the  char- 
acter of  the  seeds  and  other  affinities  of  structure  the 
basis  of  classification.  This  was  found  to  be  so  satisfac- 
tory, that  not  long  ago  it  was  regarded  as  another  trophy 
of  science.  It  was,  indeed,  a  new  height  gained,  or  rather 
an  old  one  reached ;  for  Moses  was  seated  there  with 
that  very  principle  written  on  his  scroll,  more  than  three 
thousand  years  ago.  His  distinctions  are  the  same  ; 
plants  are  classified  by  him  according  to  their  "seed" 
and  "kind"  or  structure;  he  intimates  a  basis  which  is 
sufficient  for  every  natural  division,  by  whatever  route  it 
may  be  reached,  whether  by  the  elementary,  the  nutri- 
tive, or  the  reproductive  function,  and  to  which  the  labors 
of  Jussieu,  De  Candolle,  Endlicher,  Lindley,  and  others, 
have  added  nothing  essentially  new. 


6o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

III.    THE  CREATIVE  DAYS. 

It  is  almost  impossible,  in  studying  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  to  escape  the  bewildering  confusion  which 
conflicting  interpretations  as  to  the  days  have  created. 
While  on  the  other  questions,  Christian  students  and 
skeptics  or  infidels  are  ranged  on  opposite  sides,  the  dif- 
ferences on  this  question  are  chiefly  among  Christian 
interpreters  themselves.  As  they  expound  and  defend 
their  respective  opinions,  they  at  first  foster  the  prevail- 
ing confusion  ;  but  this  is  generally  done  with  so  much 
of  genial  interest  in  one  another's  solution  of  acknowl- 
edged difficulties,  that  the  conflict  has,  at  last,  lost  much 
of  its  keenness.  The  view  that  satisfies  one  is  not  ac- 
ceptable to  another ;  some  regard  the  days  in  one  light, 
some  prefer  a  different  interpretation,  and  others  accept 
a  modification  of  both.  We  are  not  in  circumstances  to 
insist  rigorously  on  any  one  of  the  ordinary  interpreta- 
tions ;  all  that  we  regard  as  at  present  incumbent  on  us 
is  to  explain  what  seems  to  us  most  consistent  with  the 
tenor  of  Scripture  and  the  teaching  of  science.  While 
doing  this,  we  shall  state  some  of  the  views  with  which 
accomplished  Christian  students  of  science  have  been 
satisfied.  Their  differences  of  interpretation  are  not  to 
be  held  as  expressing  antagonism  to  the  Bible.  It  is 
unfair  and  illogical  to  conclude  from  the  existence  of 
these  differences  that  all  of  them  are  erroneous,  and  to 
assume,  because  of  them,  "  that  the  Mosaic  account  itself 
is  untrue."  Opponents  commonly  "  pass  by  the  several 
points  in  which  the  interpreters  concur,  viz.,  that  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  61 

account  in  Genesis  is  true ;  that  it  was  communicated  to 
the  writer  by  inspiration,  that  it  teaches  that  matter  is 
not  eternal,  that  God  created  matter  in  the  beginning  ; 
that  the  beginning  may  have  been,  and  probably  was, 
countless  ages  ago;  that  the  document  describes  a  crea 
tion  which  was  distributed  over  six  portions  ;  that  man 
was  created  out  of  the  dust  in  the  sixth  period  ;  that  the 
Sabbath  was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  man  in  com- 
memoration of  this  work."*  And  they  eagerly  press 
attention  on  the  points  about  which  they  differ ;  but 
they  "are  points  which  affect  the  explicitness  of  the  nar- 
rative, not  its  truth." 

Those  theories  have  not  found  much  acceptance 
which  have  attempted  to  explain  the  statements  as  to 
days,  by  visions  or  by  the  drapery  only  of  poetic  diction. 
The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  so  explicit  and  so  direct, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  its  literal  character 
can  remain  unobserved.  Those  who  regard  the  days  as 
either  periods  or  natural  days,  accept  the  literal  or  his- 
torical character  of  the  chapter,  and  differ  only  as  to  the 
length  of  the  time  in  which  the  specified  changes  took 
place. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  the  Bible  does 
not  give  any  evidence  as  to  the  date  of  the  beginning. 
"The  writings  of  Moses  do  not  fix  the  antiquity  of  the 
globe,"  said  Chalmers,  when  geology  was  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy. He  held  that  between  the  first  verse,  announcing 
a  beginning,  and  what  follows  as  to  the  work  of  the  days, 
there  was  a  period  immeasurable  by  us,  in  which  all  the 

*  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance."     Sixth  edition,  p.  54. 
6 


62  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

changes  were  evolved  which  rendered  the  globe  habita- 
ble by  man.  This  long  unmeasured  interval  is  admitted 
by  both  classes  of  interpreters.  The  writer  who  has 
given  greatest  defin'iteness  to  the  opinion  that  the  days 
were  not  natural  days,  but  clays  embracing  many  thou- 
sands of  years,  is  Hugh  Miller ;  and  the  most  powerful 
advocate  of  the  days  as  days  of  ordinary  length,  is  Arch- 
deacon Pratt.  Hugh  Miller  assumes  that  each  day  not 
only  represented  an  age  of  enormous  duration,  but  gave 
scope  for  the  growth  and  life  of  all  those  animals  and 
plants  with  which,  as  fossils,  the  strata  of  the  globe  are 
stored.  He  identifies  with  the  third,  fifth,  and  sixth  days 
respectively,  "  the  period  of  plants,  the  period  of  great  sea 
monsters  and  creeping  things,  and  the  period  of  cattle  and 
beasts  of  the  earth."  And  these  days  he  connects  with 
geologic  history — that  is,  with  what  has  been  commonly 
designated  the  Primary,  Secondary,  and  Tertiary  forma- 
tions. The  work  of  the  fourth  day,  or  the  introduction 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  he  leaves  undiscussed,  as  not  lying 
properly  within  the  sphere  of  the  geologist.  In  this  his 
theory  has  failed.  It  does  not  meet  all  the  facts  of  the 
case ;  and,  with  regard  also  to  the  Sabbath  as  a  period, 
there  are  difficulties  which  have  not  yet  been  overcome. 
But  apart  from  these  anomalies,  the  theory  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  harmonized  with  the  facts  of  geology  ;  at 
least,  so  great  latitude  of  interpretation  has  to  be  adopt- 
ed with  a  view  to  their  satisfactory  adjustment,  that  it  is 
a  much  simpler,  and  also  a  much  safer,  course  to  accept 
the  days  as  natural  or  ordinary.  There  have  been,  ac- 
cording to  M.  D'Orbigny,  so  many  distinct  breaks  or 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  63 

changes,  that  they  cannot  be  harmonized  with  the  six 
Mosaic  days.  This  is,  of  course,  denied  by  evolutionists, 
whose  system  displaces  every  theory  or  interpretation, 
whether  referring  to  periods  or  days  ;  but  although  breaks 
and  intervals  remain,  those  who  have  accepted  the  period- 
interpretation  have  reasons  for  their  conclusion  which  it 
is  not  our  desire  to  ignore  or  repudiate.  As  that  theory 
may  present,  to  their  judgment,  the  most  satisfactory 
solution,  it  is  their  duty  to  retain  it,  while  they  watch 
with  interest  the  progress  of  scientific  investigation,  and 
the  bearing  of  its  results  on  their  conclusion. 

Modifications  of  this  theory  have  appeared  from  time 
to  time  ;  and  we  are  not  without  hope  that  the  day  will 
come  when  science  may  constrain  all  classes  to  accept  a 
common  conclusion.  "  The  seven  days  of  creation,"  says 
a  recent  writer,  "  are  neither  seven  literal  days,  of  twenty- 
four  hours  each,  nor  yet  seven  definite  historical  periods, 
the  events  of  which  are  literally  recorded  ;  but  as  the 
seven  seals,  trumpets,  and  vials  of  St.  John's  Revelation, 
represented  the  history  of  the  future  by  a  typical  repre- 
sentation of  each  of  its  grand  divisions,  without  any  of 
them  being  chronologically  defined,  so  do  the  seven  days 
of  the  Mosaic  economy  represent,  in  a  dramatic  and  typi- 
cal form,  the  successive  changes  which  took  place  at  cre- 
ation, each  grand  feature  being  boldly  sketched  out  in  one 
scenic  representation  characteristic  of  that  period."*  This 
supposition  may  to  many  prove  the  most  satisfactory. 

The  view  which  Dr.  Chalmers  propounded  has,  in  its 
broad  outline,  the  charm  of  simplicity  and  the  advantage 

*  "  Primeval  Man  Unveiled."  p  44. 


64  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

of  placing  the  historical  statement  in  the  same  light  in 
which  the  others  are  received.  "  The  first  verse,"  he  says, 
"  describes  the  primary  act  of  creation,  and  leaves  us  to 
place  it  as  far  back  as  we  may  ;  and  the  first  half  of  the 
second  verse  describes  the  state  of  the  earth  at  the  point 
of  time  anterior  to  the  detailed  operations  of  this  chap- 
ter." On  this  supposition,  an  immense  interval  elapsed 
between  the  beginning  and  the  establishment  of  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  globe,  and  during  that  interval  all 
the  processes  have  transpired  with  whose  results  geolo- 
gists are  now  conversant. 

The  six  days'  creative  acts  may  constitute  those 
changes  only  which  immediately  preceded  man's  appear- 
ance. The  description  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  had 
reference  specially  to  man.  The  light,  the  atmosphere, 
the  plants,  the  animals,  are  introduced  in  obvious  rela- 
tion to  him  ;  and  it  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that  those 
changes  only  would  be  mentioned  which  had  the  closest 
historical  connection  with  him.  The  facts  of  geology 
warrant  the  inference  that  in  immediate  connection  with 
the  time  of  man's  appearance,  plants  and  animals  were 
introduced,  not  before  existing,  which  were  specially 
adapted  to  his  wants.  The  paraphrase  by  Archdeacon 
Pratt,  (p.  49,)  omitting  his  supposition  as  to  the  process 
by  which  light  was  introduced,  is  in  harmony  with  the 
opinion  which  we  have  long  held,  and  often  fully  ex- 
plained ;  and  his  brief  summary  is,  on  the  whole,  an 
admirable  statement  of  the  view  which  we  think  most 
honors  the  historical  directness  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
best  meets  the  requirements  of  science.     It  is  an  expan- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  65 

sion  of  Dr.  Chalmers'  suggestion,  and  is  based  on  the 
wider  range  of  facts  which,  since  his  time,  scientific 
inquiry  has  produced.  In  the  long  interval  between  the 
first  creation  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  the  prep- 
aration of  the  earth  for  man,  races  of  plants  and  animals 
lived,  died,  and  became  fossilized ;  but  because  man  is 
not  specially  concerned  with  these  long  historical  pro- 
cesses, the  Scriptures  are  silent  regarding  them."* 

"While  questions  regarding  details  may  be  urged 
which,  in  the  present  stage  of  scientific  inquiry,  cannot 
be  satisfactorily  answered,  recent  discoveries  in  geology 
and  applications  in  natural  philosophy,  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  advances  in  Biblical  scholarship,  warrant  our 
anticipating  such  a  combination  of  results  as  may  soon 
shed  light  through  what  is  still  obscure.  Meanwhile,  we 
may  suggest  the  probability  that,  while  in  the  six  natural 
days  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man  was  consum- 
mated through  a  series  of  divinely-instituted  adjustments, 
these  transactions  are  the  outcome  or  crown  of  processes 
which  had  been  transpiring  through  long  antecedent 
periods — but  an  outcome  only  through  the  mediately 
creative  power  of  God.  The  six  days'  work,  therefore, 
may  be  representative  of  those  changes  and  advances 
which  constitute  the  previous  history  of  our  globe  as  the 
intended  abode  of  man.  Revelation,  in  closing  the  Bible, 
unfolds  the  future  ;  Genesis,  in  its  commencement,  re- 
veals the  distant  past.  The  Bible  sheds  light  in  both 
directions,  until  it  fades  in  mystery  ;  but  the  same  princi- 
ples of  interpretation  can  be  legitimately  applied  whether 

*  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance,"  pp.  77,  78. 
6* 


66  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

we  look  into  the  future  or  into  the  past.  We  may  assume, 
therefore,  that  as  one  prophetic  description  sometimes 
serves  to  cover  widely  separated  future  events,  so  the  one 
historical  description  in  Genesis  may  embrace  events  in 
the  past  lying  widely  apart.  In  Ezekiel's  description  of 
the  coming  destruction  of  Tyre,  for  instance,  we  have 
events  brought  together  which  were  in  part  fulfilled  in 
the  siege  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  in  part  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  afterwards,  by  Alexander  the  Great ;  yet 
no  such  distinction  in  time  is  perceptible  in  the  narrative 
itself.  In  like  manner,  the  description,  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  while  setting  forth  those  transactions, 
which  had  most  direct  reference  to  man,  may  also  em- 
brace those  other  transactions  which,  although  separated 
by  intervening  ages,  yet  pointed  to  the  same  result. 

And  the  six  literal  days  may  themselves  be  represen- 
tative, as  Principal  McCosh  supposes,  "  of  six  epochs, 
just  as  our  Lord's  prediction  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem has  throughout  a  reference  to  the  final  day."  Taking 
this  view,  he  indicates  that  the  transaction  recorded  in 
the  opening  of  Genesis  may  not  be  a  mere  vision,  but  a 
"reality  which  retains  the  natural  days,  as  after  the  type 
of  the  natural  epochs,  and  keeps  the  seventh  day  as  a  true 
day,  and  yet  a  prefiguration  of  the  Sabbath  of  rest  which 
remaineth  for  the  people  of  God."* 

It  is  unnecessary  to  prosecute  this  subject  farther; 
enough  has  been  stated  to  show  that  the  questions  which 
have  been  raised  may  be  differently  answered,  without 

*  See  an  Instructive  Note  in  "The  Supernatural  in  Relation  to  the 
Natural,"  pp.  343,  344. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  67 

displacing  the  Bible.  Inferences  may  vary  with  the  shift- 
ing results  of  science.  Holding  fast  the  Bible  with  the 
one  hand,  we  may  grasp  all  that  science  brings  to  us  with 
the  other,  and  retain  it  until  we  find  for  it  an  appropriate 
place.  There  is  nothing  to  repel  the  Christian  in  the 
records  of  science.  He  can,  therefore,  afford  to  wait  for 
more  light;  while,  in  the  meantime,  he  rejects  none  of 
those  supports  which  are  within  his  reach.  Temporary 
in  their  character,  they  may  guide  to.  what  is  permanent. 
If  there  is  one  lesson  more  than  another  which  the  prog- 
ress of  the  sciences  is  teaching  us,  it  is  that  of  caution 
and  the  necessity  of  repressing  dogmatic  tendencies  ; 
and  if  there  is  one  benefit  more  than  another  which  the 
history  of  this  discussion  is  conferring,  it  is  that  of  great- 
er confidence  in  the  truth  of  the  Bible. 


70  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

vague  and  shadowy  or  incongruous,  but  are  so  definite 
as  to  meet  the  generalizations  of  astronomy.  Ideas  were 
not  uncommon  at  one  time  regarding  the  measurable- 
ness  of  the  heavens  and  the  numbering  of  the  stars  ;  but 
in  the  Bible  this  arrogance  found  only  rebuke,  as  it  ever 
assigned  to  Deity  alone  the  prerogative  of  measuring 
space  and  counting  the  stars.  "  Look  now  toward  heaven, 
and  tell  the  stars  if  thou  be  able  to  number  them."  Gen. 
15:5.  "  He  telleth  the  number  of  the  stars  ;  he  calleth 
them  by  their  names."  Psa.  147:4.  "To  whom  then 
will  ye  liken  me,  or  shall  I  be  equal?  saith  the  Holy 
One.  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high,  and  behold  who  hath 
created  these  things,  that  bringeth  out  their  host  by  num- 
ber ;  he  calleth  them  all  by  names,  by  the  greatness  of 
his  might,  for  that  he  is  strong  in  power;  not  one  fail- 
eth."  Isa.  40:25,  26.  "Is  not  God  in  the  height  of 
heaven  ?  and  behold  the  height  of  the  stars,  how  high 
they  are!"  Job  22:12.  "For  by  him  were  all  things 
created  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  the  earth,  vis- 
ible and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions, 
or  principalities,  or  powers ;  all  things  were  created  by 
him  and  for  him ;  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him 
all  things  consist."  Col.  1:16.  These  and  similar  sub- 
lime passages  we  can  hold  firmly  in  the  light  of  modern 
discoveries ;  they  sustain  all  that  has  yet  transpired  on 
the  side  of  science,  and  astronomy  cannot  dissociate 
itself  from  these  great  revealed  truths. 

The  idea  of  unity  is  strengthened  by  the  impressive 
conclusion  of  M.  Maedler,  that  this  visible  universe  of 
suns  and  their  systems  is  moving  around  some  grand 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  71 

centre,  in  a  ceaseless,  aild,  to  us,  mysterious  march. 
Guided  by  analogy,  Herschel  reached  this  inference ; 
and,  since  that  time,  definite  reasoning  has  confirmed  it. 
M.  Maedler's  conclusion  that  the  star,  Alcyone,  one  of 
the  Pleiades,  the  well-known  seven  stars,  represents  the 
common  centre  of  the  cosmical  system,  has  in  its  sup- 
port such  concurrent  approval  that  it  may  be  accepted. 
While  admitting  the  soundness  of  the  inference  that 
there  is  such  a  centre,  some  doubt  whether  it  has  yet 
been  ascertained,  and,  like  the  late  Sir  David  Brewster, 
suppose  that  the  centre  may  be  dark,  and  of  course  not 
visible ;  but  whether  Alcyone  be  the  real  centre  or  not, 
does  not  affect  the  conclusion  as  to  unity.  That  there  is 
a  centre  somewhere,  is  admitted  ;  and  long  ages  ago,  be- 
fore the  light  of  astronomy  dawned  on  this  fact,  it  was  in 
dim  vision  revealed  to  Job.  It  was  unfolded  to  him  as  a 
truth,  the  full  import  of  which  possibly  he  did  not  com- 
prehend, and  he  repeats  it  in  the  question,  "  Canst  thou 
bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands 
of  Orion?"  Job  38:31.  The  profound  significance  of 
this  long-hidden  or  mysterious  question,  has,  of  late  years, 
attracted  attention  as  strangely  prophetic  of  a  truth  which, 
at  last,  the  once  distant  future  has  begun  to  unveil.  That 
Job  had  penetrated  the  secrets  of  the  heavenly  mechan- 
ism, we  do  not  affirm  :  but  his  expressions  clearly  sustain 
that  truth  as  to  a  grand  centre,  which  has  only  of  late 
been  accepted.  May  we  not  legitimately  suppose  that 
the  glorious  Being  who  hath  not  only  framed  the  heavens 
in  all  their  vastness,  but  hath  also  given  delicate  struc- 
ture to  an  insect's  wing  and  enriched  the  lily  with  its  beau- 


72  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ty  and  its  fragrance,  would  give  with  equal  condescension, 
to  subserve  ultimately  a  moral  purpose,  a  prophetic  series 
of  truths  in  the  economy  of  the  universe  ?  Accepting 
prophecy  as  valid  in  relation  to  the  human  race,  is  it  en- 
tirely improbable  that  He  who  has  given  glimpses  of 
unforeseen  changes  in  distant  centuries  of  national  his- 
tories, would  vouchsafe  some  gleam  of  those  facts  or  laws 
in  the  amplitude  of  space  and  the  multitude  of  systems, 
which  progressive  science  should  ages  afterwards  fully 
interpret  ?  As  He  has  given  the  greater,  we  may  surely 
anticipate  the  bestowment  of  the  lesser;  as  He  has  re- 
vealed distant  secrets  in  the  moral  universe  which  we 
readily  accept,  may  we  not  assume  the  probability  of 
his  giving  glimpses  of  realities  also  in  the  material  uni- 
verse ? 

Not  only  is  the  language  of  Job  very  definite,  but  its 
precision  is  beginning  to  be  recognized  as  in  harmony 
with  scientific  discovery.  The  more  we  learn  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  heavens,  the  more  significant  does 
Job's  inquiry  become.  For  many  centuries,  mystery  so 
shrouded  the  question  "  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influ- 
ences of  Pleiades  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ?"  that  men 
concluded  it  was  meaningless.  It  is  now  intelligible. 
The  word  rendered  Pleiades — Chimali,  in  the  original, 
while  held  by  some  to  represent  a  "  heap,"  or  "  group," 
is  said  by  others  to  mean  literally  a  hinge,  that  around 
which  other  bodies  turn  or  move.  "  The  sweet  influ- 
ences "  are  "  the  ties,"  or  the  strong  forces  of  Chimah ; 
and  the  phrase  legitimately  suggests  the  idea  of  a  con- 
trolling power  which  connects  with  this  centre  the  circling 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  73 

march  of  the  universe.  "  Truly,  there  are  glories  in  the 
Bible  on  which  the  eye  of  man  has  not  gazed  sufficiently 
long  to  admire  them  ;  and  there  are  difficulties,  the  depth 
and  inwardness  of  which  require  a  measure  of  the  same 
qualities  in  himself.  There  are  notes  struck  on  places, 
which,  like  some  discoveries  of  science,  have  sounded 
before  their  time,  and  only  after  many  days  have  been 
caught  up  and  found  a  response  on  earth.  There  are 
germs  of  truth  which,  after  a  thousand  years,  have  yet 
taken  root  in  the  world."  And  are  not  Job's  questions 
chords  struck  long  before  their  time,  and  only  now  is 
the  responsive  note  beginning  to  be  rightly  heard  and 
understood  ! 

Still  grander  and  more  imposing  is  the  conception  of 
the  universe  to  which  recent  discoveries  have  led  us.  Its 
immeasurableness  is  overwhelming.  The  naming  of  the 
stars  is  not  within  the  compass  of  human  effort.  It  is 
the  prerogative  of  the  Creator  alone  to  comprehend  "  the 
All."  While  the  astronomer  who  neglects  the  guidance 
of  the  Bible  is  powerless  amid  the  mysteries  of  number- 
less stars,  the  student  who  accepts  its  teaching,  while  he 
traverses  space,  is  humble,  and  adores  the  mighty  One 
by  whom  all  is  upheld  and  controlled.  He  finds  in  stars 
rising  above  stars,  and  spreading  beyond  all  that  the  tel- 
escope can  reach,  but  one  stupendous  illustration  of  the 
Bible  announcement  as  to  the  unity  of  all  that  is  visible 
or  faintly  shadowed.  Both  the  works  and  the  Word  of 
God  are  revealing  to  us,  by  their  blending  rays,  the  grand 
truth,  that  the  magnificent  array  of  worlds  which  has 
fallen  within  the  sweep  of  human  scrutiny,  may  after  all 

7 


74  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

be  to  the  whole  of  God's  material  creation  but  as  a  leaf 
to  the  forest  or  a  grain  of  sand  to  the  globe.  Vaster  sys- 
tems lie  beyond,  differing  from  one  another,  in  all  proba- 
bility, not  only  in  mass  and  form,  but  in  nature.  Much 
as  astronomers  have  measured,  it  is  as  nothing  to  what 
can  be  but  dimly  seen  by  them,  or  lies  altogether  hidden 
from  their  view.  System  rises  beyond  system,  until  sur- 
vey fails.  Vast  as  are  the  dimensions  of  our  solar  sys- 
tem, it  almost  disappears  in  the  seeming  illimitableness 
of  other  sun-systems.  After  we  have  struggled  to  mas- 
ter their  magnitudes  and  survey  the  space  which  they 
occupy,  we  are  confounded  and  paralyzed  by  the  still 
greater  task  to  conceive  what  "  the  All "  must  be,  when 
we  find  that  the  whole  system  of  starsof  which  our  sun 
is  part  is  only  a  small  fragment  in  the  far-sweeping  frame 
of  which  the  star  system  consists.  Truly,  apart  from 
the  Bible,  there  is  no  grander  nor  more  impressive  sub- 
ject of  study  than  the  immensity  and  the  structure  of  the 
heavens,  as  unfolded  in  the  occasional  expositions  of  as- 
tronomers during  the  last  hundred  years,  or  rather  since 
Wright  of  Durham,  in  1750,  enunciated  his  theory  of 
the  construction  of  the  universe.  There  is  discoverable 
a  oneness,  or  unity,  through  all  this  stupendous  vast- 
ness,  which  is  inexpressibly  overawing.  Its  contempla- 
tion compels  stillness  ;  it  renders  mind  motionless.  Meas- 
ureless, exhaustless — to  us  incomprehensibly  infinite,  yet 
harmonious — the  universe  overpowers  the  imagination 
itself,  until,  guided  by  the  Bible,  we  turn  in  our  helpless- 
ness to  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  as  the  Lord  God 
omnipotent  reigning,  and  are  satisfied  by  finding  that 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  75 

our  ignorance  is  lost  in  the  fulness  of  his  infinite  wis" 
dom.  Entranced  by  harmony  of  universal  movement 
and  overawed  by  measureless  extent,  overburdened 
thought  can  find  appropriate  outlet  only  in  the  language 
of  the  angels'  song,  "  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works, 
Lord  God  Almighty,  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them 
all."     Rev.  15:3. 

II.     UNITY  IN  THE  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  GLOBE,  AND  IN  ITS 
LIFE-FORMS. 

The  unity  visible  in  the  mechanism  of  the  heavens  is 
no  less  distinctly  recognizable  in  the  mechanism  of  the 
earth.  What  astronomy  is  revealing  in  one  department, 
geology  is  revealing  in  the  other.  While  the  facts  of 
astronomy  lie  in  the  area  of  immeasurable  space,  and 
the  facts  of  geology  in  the  area  of  yet  indefinite  ages, 
purpose  has  always  indubitably  appeared  in  both.  Strata 
separated  by  long  periods  are  yet  bound  together  by  an 
evident  design,  which,  prevailing  alike  in  gentle  and  in 
tumultuating  movements,  includes  islands  and  continents, 
and  is  ever  apparent  in  crystallization,  in  mineral  aggre- 
gation, in  fusion  by  heat,  in  processes  of  cooling,  and  in 
the  storage  of  the  globe  in  relation  to  the  wants  of  man. 
The  gold,  the  silver,  the  iron,  the  slate,  the  coal,  the 
limestone,  the  salt,  and  other  metals  and  minerals,  all 
presuppose  in  their  allocation  and  disposition  a  guiding 
power,  and  point  anticipatively  to  a  period  of  uses.  They 
are  prophetic  of  man's  appearance.  His  advent  at  least 
is  their  explanation.  Man's  presence,  with  a  bodily  struc- 
ture to  seize  these  materials,  and  an  intellect  to  develop 


76  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

and  combine  their  applications  in  arts  and  manufactures 
shows  not  only  a  beautiful  harmony  in  the  whole  fabric, 
but  how  little  have  the  earth  and  man  been  dependent 
for  their  present  constitution  and  connection  on  the 
chance  movements  of  blind  force. 

As  this  part  of  the  subject  will  fall  to  be  more  fully 
considered  when  we  examine  the  preparation  of  the  earth 
for  man,  we  may  Omit  further  reference  to  it  here. 

The  unity  visible  in  the  structure  of  the  globe,  is  no 
less  conspicuously  manifest  in  the  life-forms  which  are 
represented  by  the  fossils  of  succeeding  ages,  and  by 
now  existing  plants  and  animals. 

Widely-separajte  rock  formations  distinctly  show  con- 
tinuity of  life-forrins.  Though  disconnected  by  descent, 
they  are  one  in  typical  outline.  There  is  such  similarity 
in  general  structure,  that  the  idea  of  plan  cannot  be  dis- 
countenanced without  a  violation  of  the  common  princi- 
ples of  observation  and  inference.  Each  life-age  has 
been  prophetic  of  that-  which  is  to  follow.  Animals  of 
advanced  structure  in  the  one  age,  give  place  to  animals 
of  still  higher  form  and  greater  beauty  in  the  next,  but 
not  always  of  greater  delicacy  and  intricacy  in  their  ana- 
tomical framework,  nor  more  subtle  in  the  play  of  life- 
forces,  but  having  new  adaptations  to  climatic  and 
other  conditions.  This  progression  has  culminated  in 
man. 

Agassiz,  while  acknowledging  that  there  is  evidently 
an  advance  from  lower  to  higher  animal  forms — that  there 
is  increasing  closeness  of  structure  to  those  now  existing, 
and  that  especially  among  vertebrates  there  is  a  growing 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  77 

likeness  to  man — yet  denies  that  these  connections  are, 
in  any  degree,  the  consequence  of  parental  descent. 
"  The  link,"  he  says,  "  by  which  they  are  connected,  is  of 
a  higher  and  immaterial  nature,  and  their  connection  is 
to  be  sought  in  the  view  of  the  Creator  himself,  whose 
aim  in  forming  the  earth,  in  allowing  it  to  undergo  the 
successive  changes  which  geology  has  pointed  out,  and 
in  creating  successively  all  the  different  types  of  animals 
which  have  passed  away,  was  to  introduce  man  upon  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  Man  is  the  end  towards  which  all 
the  animal  creation  has  tended,  from  the  first  appearance 
of  the  first  Palaeozoic  fishes."* 

Cuvier  and  Hugh  Miller  may  be  held  as  representing 
the  same  conclusions,  though  based  on  a  lesser  area  of 
fact  and  observation,  and  Professor  Owen  has  strikingly 
enforced  them.  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  conceive  of 
the  utter  absence  of  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  Deity, 
and  that  man  was  never  foreshadowed  in  the  animal 
structures  of  succeeding  ages.  Although  we  cannot  dis- 
cern and  describe  the  process  by  which  natural  laws-  or 
secondary  causes  have  educed  the  results  which  appear, 
we  may  rest  assured  that  a  presiding  Intelligence  direct- 
ed them  all.  "  But  if,  without  derogation  of  the  Divine 
power,"  says  Professor  Owen,  "  we  may  conceive  of  the 
existence  of  such  ministers,  and  personify  them  by  the 
term  '  Nature,'  we  learn  from  the  past  history  of  our 
globe  that  she  has  advanced  with  slow  and  stately  steps, 
guided  by  the  archetypal  hght  amid  the  wreck  of  worlds, 
from  the  first  embodiment  of  the  vertebrate  idea  under 
*  Agassiz  and  Gould's  "Comparative  Physiology,"  p.  417. 
7* 


78  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

its  old  ichythyic  vestment,  until  it  became  arrayed  in  the 
glorious  garb  of  the  human  form."* 

The  same  system  that  gives  symmetry,  gracefulness, 
and  beauty  to  the  cedar,  the  vine,  and  the  rose,  built 
up  in  olden  eras  the  gigantic  tree-ferns.  The  earliest 
shells  that  have  been  found  protected  their  inmates  like 
species  now  living ;  and  the  first  spiral  shells  discovered 
were  shaped  by  the  same  mathematical  principles  by 
which,  in  our  seas,  molluscs  are  at  the  present  day  regu- 
lating their  dwellings.  The  vertebral  columns  of  fishes, 
birds,  and  quadrupeds,  and  even  the  teeih  of  extinct  ani- 
mals, are  all  constructed  on  a  definite  plan  or  model.  In 
both  animal  and  vegetable  physiology  there  are  revealed 
those  minute  mechanisms  which  no  less  strikingly  attest 
unity  of  plan.  So  abundant  are  the  details  and  so  mani- 
fold the  microscopic  marvels  which  here  meet  us,  that  we 
become  bewildered  by  what  is  numberless,  as  in  astrono- 
my we  are  overawed  by  vastness.  Those  who  have  made 
the  greatest  discoveries,  and  who  still  prosecute  exact 
researches,  should  be  the  readiest  to  say  with  Dr.  Car- 
penter, "  And  when  the  physiologist  is  inclined  to  dwell 
unduly  upon  his  capacity  for  penetrating  the  secrets  of 
nature,  it  may  be  salutary  for  him  to  reflect  that,  even 
when  he  has  attained  the  farthest  limit  of  science,  by 
advancing  to  those  general  principles  which  tend  to  place 
it  on  an  elevation  which  others  have  already  reached,  he 
yet  knows  nothing  of  those  wondrous  operations  which 
are  the  essential  parts  of  every  one  of  those  complicated 
functions  by  which  the  life  of  the  body  is  sustained, 
*  Professor  Owen's  "  Discourse  on  Limbs,"  p.  86. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  79 

Why  one  cell  should  absorb,  why  another  that  seems  ex- 
actly to  resemble  it  should  assimilate,  why  a  third  should 
secrete,  why  a  fourth  should  prepare  the  productive 
germs,  and  why  of  two  germs  that  seem  exactly  similar, 
one  should  be  developed  into  the  meanest  zoophite  and 
another  into  the  complex  fabric  of  man — are  questions 
that  physiology  is  not  likely  ever  to  answer."*  While 
freely  admitting  that  mysteries,  which  will  probably  for 
ever  baffle  human  intellect,  shroud  many  exquisitely 
beautiful  processes,  we  see  enough  to  constrain  us  to 
acknowledge  a  community  of  structural  arrangement, 
and  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  an  all-pervading  unity  in 
life -fabrics. 

Permeating  these,  are  heat,  light,  electricity,  magnet- 
ism, as  correlated  forces;  and  the  discovery  that  these 
different  physical  forces  are  mutually  convertible — that 
they  can  pass  into  one  another — or,  in  other  words,  that 
all  force  is  the  same  force — has  placed  in  an  entirely  new 
light  the  unity  of  the  globe.  These  forces  are  so  simple, 
yet  so  powerful  in  their  combinations,  and  are  so  univer- 
sal in  their  diffusion,  as  they  connect  the  inorganic  and 
organic  fabrics,  that  the  doctrine  of  unity  is  rising  with 
a  magnificence  which  surpasses  that  even  of  endless 
worlds  in  harmony,  because  they  bear  us  on  more  directly 
to  the  mind  of  God.  "And  even  if  we  cannot  certainly 
identify  force  in  all  its  forms  with  the  direct  energies  of 
one  omnipresent  and  all-pervading  Will,  it  is  at  least  in 
the  highest  degree  unphilosophical  to  assume  the  con- 
trary, to  speak  or  to  think  as  if  the  forces  of  nature  were 

*  "  Animal  Physiology,"  p.  592.     Bohn's  Edition. 


80  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

either  independent  of  or  even  separate  from  the  Creator's 
power."* 

While  welcoming  evidence  of  the  correlation  of  forces, 
and  while  admitting,  to  a  certain  extent,  that  matter  and 
force  are  inseparable,  and  that  they  have  some  intimate 
connection  with  the  animal  frame,  we  deny  that  they 
either  sustain  or  subordinate  mental  force,  or  that  they 
are  "the  all"  of  spiritual  life.  There  are  facts  in  mental 
history  which  a  purely  materialistic  philosophy  can  never 
explain.  One  of  these  is  a  belief  in  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  Another  is  that  we  are  free  agents,  and  are 
morally  responsible  for  our  actions  ;  and  intimately  con- 
nected with  these  two  is  the  idea  of  a  God  almighty  and 
omnipresent.  Matter  and  force,  however  inseparable, 
cannot  in  their  very  nature  produce  such  moral  results 
as  these.  Vital  force  is  essentially  different  from  purely 
physical  force.  "  It  is  one  thing  to  admit  that  the  vital 
and  active  energies  of  the  living  being  are  carried  on  by 
means  of  the  forces  of  inorganic  nature,  and  another 
thing  to  assert  that  any  mere  combination  of  these  forces 
produces  life."f  Vital  properties  are  superadded ;  they 
are  not  permanent.  They  are  removed  at  death,  and  do 
not  reappear.  "  The  material  properties  belong  to  the 
matter,  whether  living  or  dead,"  says  Dr.  Beale,  "but 
where  are  the  vital  properties  in  the  dead  material  ?  If 
physicists  and  chemists  would  only  restore  to  life  that 
which  is  dead,  we  should  all  believe  in  the  doctrine  they 

*  "Reign  of  Law,"  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  p.  122. 
t  See   a  very  able  article  in   the  "British  and  Foreign  Evangelical 
Review,"  July,  1S72,  by  Professor  J.  R.  Leebody. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  Si 

teach."*  As  we  are  not  discussing  materialism,  we  fol- 
low its  conclusions  no  farther.  We  accept  almost  all 
that  it  teaches  physiologically  regarding  the  connections 
of  the  organic  and  inorganic,  and  the  exposition  which 
it  gives  of  the  unity  of  our  globe  and  of  its  life-forms; 
but  we  refuse  to  stop  here,  because  there  is  a  psychologi- 
cal or  spiritual  sphere  in  which  the  phenomena  of  matter 
and  force  are  comparatively  subordinate.  Psychology 
has  its  own  laws,  and  recognizes  a  higher  than  a  mate- 
rialistic government.  We  rise  from  the  lower  unity  to 
that  which  is  wider,  more  lasting,  and  more  sublime.  In 
the  intimate  connection  of  the  material  with  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual — of  the  outer  world  with  the  "  world 
within " — there  is  a  unity  of  profounder  interest  than 
that  which  the  physical  universe  alone  exhibits,  and  that 
interest  is  intensified  when  we  separate  ourselves  alto- 
gether from  what  is  external,  and  expatiate  with  freedom 
in  the  domain  of  the  invisible.  As  we  ascend  from  the 
lowest  instinct  in  animals  to  reason  and  faith  in  man,  we 
infer  the  legitimacy  of  still  higher  advances.  We  cannot 
stop  with  man  as  the  terminating  link  in  the  series  of 
rational  and  accountable  intelligences  ;  we  cannot  admit 
that  his  horizon  is  the  limit  of  moral  agency  in  the  uni- 
verse. Analogy,  as  our  guide,  gives  to  us  an  upward 
impulse  which  we  cannot  check  without  doing  violence 
alike  to  the  expositions  of  science  and  Scripture.  What 
is  dim  to  reason,  Revelation  makes  distinct.  The  Bible 
guides  us  with  steady  step  into  the  invisible,  and  it  de- 
scribes existences  in  it  with  as  much  historical  definite- 

*  "  Protoplasm,  or  Life,  Matter,  and  Mind,"  p.  27. 


82  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ness  as  when  it  places  before  us  facts  which  lie  within 
the  easy  apprehension  of  the  senses.  "Thrones,  domin- 
ions, principalities,  and  powers"  are  described  as  distinct 
representatives  of  spiritual  intelligences,  or  celestial  dig- 
nities, or  the  higher  and  highest  essences  of  the  universe ; 
order  reigns  there,  unity  prevails,  as  with  one  mind  they 
obey  God.  A  system  of  beings  is  revealed  to  us,  vast, 
mysterious,  yet  harmonious,  of  which  science  can  take  no 
cognizance.  The  sun  is  not  its  centre,  nor  is  Alcyone. 
The  Pleiades  do  not  reflect  its  splendor,  nor  can  as- 
tronomers define  its  outline  or  estimate  its  glories.  Its 
"thrones  and  dominions"  rise  illimitably  until  they  ap- 
proach the  omnipotent  Adonai,  in  whom  and  by  whom 
and  for  whom  they  all  consist. 

When  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry,  physiology,  and 
other  correlated  sciences,  are  thus  associated  with  what 
the  Bible  reveals  in  the  unseen,  we  may  safely  rest  in  the 
light  of  that  Word  which  reveals  a  glorious  Being,  who 
sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  who  has  in  match- 
less wisdom  first  instituted  the  design  to  which  every 
fact,  and  law,  and  event  has  been  throughout  conformed, 
and  has  given  to  all  his  works  a  unity  consonant  with 
that  of  his  own  attributes. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  83 


CHAPTER   V. 

SCRIPTURE  ALLUSIONS   COINCIDENT  WITH  FACTS  IN  NATU- 
RAL SCIENCE. 

The  Bible  frequently  makes  allusions  to  the  laws  of  nature,  their 
operations  and  effects.  But  such  allusions  are  often  so  wrapped  in  the 
folds  of  the  peculiar  and  graceful  drapery  with  which  its  language  is 
occasionally  clothed,  that  the  meaning,  though  peeping  out  from  its  thin 
covering  all  the  while,  yet  lies  in  some  sense  concealed  until  the  lights 
and  revelations  of  science  are  thrown  upon  it ;  then  it  bursts  out  and 
strikes  us  with  exquisite  force  and  beauty. — lieutenant  maury. 

There  are  allusions  in  the  Bible,  written  centuries 
before  astronomy  had  given  a  glimpse  of  the  structure  of 
the  universe,  or  geology  had  revealed  the  evolutions  of 
the  globe,  or  chemistry  any  of  its  constituent  elements, 
which  have  only  of  late  become  intelligible  and  been 
recognized  as  perfectly  exact.  The  coincidences  of  Bible 
statements  with  facts  in  natural  science  are  so  remarka- 
ble, and  comparatively  so  numerous,  that,  when  combined, 
they  constitute  a  powerful  argument  for  the  reliableness 
of  the  whole  book.  Although  the  Bible  does  not  teach 
science,  it  cannot  be  admitted  to  contradict  its  discover- 
ies. The  coincidence  in  some  instances  may  seem  to  be 
remote  or  fanciful,  but  it  is  not  on  that  account  to  be 
rejected.  New  discoveries  may  remove  doubt  and  reveal 
long-hidden  connections. 

We  have  already  noticed  (1)  the  long-mysterious 
questions  in  the  Book  of  Job  regarding  the  Pleiades,  as 


8  4  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

enriched  with  unexpected  lustre  by  the  light  of  modern 
astronomy  ;  and  (2)  the  statements  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  regarding  the  distinctive  facts  in  the  natural 
history  of  "the  grass,"  "the  herb,"  and  "the  fruit-tree," 
as  reaching  that  which  botanists  have  made  the  basis  of 
a  truly  scientific  classification.  Without  further  advert- 
ing to  these  allusions,  we  submit  the  following  coinci- 
dences : 

3.  "And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the 
midst  of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from 
the  waters.  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided 
the  waters  which  were  under  the  firmament  from  the 
waters  which  were  above  the  firmament."  Gen.  1:6,  7. 
This  harmonizes  with  what  is  known  of  the  processes  of 
evaporation  to  which  the  clouds  are  subject  as  they  float 
above  us — lakes  of  water  in  the  azure  vault.  The  firma- 
ment sustains  the  waters  collected  in  its  scattered  clouds, 
and  separates  them  from  those  resting  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth.  Take,  in  connection  with  this,  what  Solomon 
has  written,  "All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea;  yet  the  sea 
is  not  full ;  unto  the  place  from  whence  the  rivers  come, 
thither  they  return  again,"  Eccles.  1:7;  and  we  may 
fairly  press  the  question,  Can  any  brief  description  more 
exactly  set  forth  what  has  been  ascertained  as  to  the 
settled  course  of  evaporation  ? 

4.  The  passage  in  Ecclesiastes  regarding  the  separa- 
tion of  particles  of  water  from  the  rivers  and  the  sea,  has 
an  intensified  significance  when  placed  beside  that  other 
statement  in  Job  regarding  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere : 
"  For  he  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  seeth  un- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  85 

der  the  whole  heaven  ;  to  make  the  weight  for  the  winds  ; 
and  he  weigheth  the  waters  by  measure."  Job  28 :  24, 
25.  This  reference  to  the  "weight  of  the  winds"  dimly 
indicates  that  simple  yet  beautiful  arrangement  in  the 
atmosphere  which  the  experiments  of  natural  philosophy 
have  made  known,  and  of  which  the  barometer  is  a  sim- 
ple illustration.  In  the  still  atmosphere  there  slumbers 
amazing  power;  it  has  a  weight,  or  substantiality,  by 
which  it  upholds  the  clouds  or  the  waters  ;  and  there  is 
in  its  movements  a  force  which  is  appalling  when  in  tem- 
pest it  rushes  hither  and  thither,  distributing  desolation 
and  death.  In  that  silent  process  by  which  the  clouds 
are  uplifted,  there  is  put  forth  in  a  single  year  a  weight 
or  an  amount  of  force  that  is  almost  incredible ;  it  has 
been  calculated  by  Arago  as  greater  than  the  united 
strength  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  if  put  forth  for 
twenty  thousand  years.  And  can  any  history  of  rivers 
be  more  definite  and  succinct  than  that  which  is  given 
in  Ecclesiastes,  when  they  are  represented  as  hasting 
to  the  sea  from  the  hills  and  the  clouds,  and  as  again 
returning  to  renew  their  course  ? 

5.  In  his  very  interesting  and  instructive  work,  "  The 
Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,"  Lieutenant  Maury  has 
vividly  described  the  currents  in  the  atmosphere  from 
the  equator  to  the  poles,  and  from  the  poles  to  the  equa- 
tor— the  one  current  ranging  along  a  lower  level,  the 
other  on  a  higher,  and  both  exchanging  their  heights  at 
the  equator  and  the  tropics — like  overlapping  belts  on 
higher  and  lower  wheels  in  a  factory — while  at  the  north 
and  south  poles  they  move  from  right  to  left  and  left  to 

8 


86  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

right  respectively,  around  a  circular  mass  of  air,  and  are 
steady  in  their  course  as  the  Gulf  Stream.*  Unlike  the 
trade  winds,  they  know  no  rest.  Their  circuit  is  cease- 
less ;  and  no  one  can  examine  the  facts  which  have  been 
ascertained  and  the  principles  which  they  represent,  with- 
out delighting  in  the  new  meaning  which  lights  up  that 
Scripture  sentence,  so  long  unintelligible,  "The  wind 
goeth  toward  the  south,  and  turneth  about  unto  the 
north:  it  wJiirletJi  about  continually;  and  the  wind  re- 
turneth  again  according  to  his  circuits."  Eccles.  i :  6. 
This,  is  truly  an  accurate  generalization,  and  may  well 
arrest  the  attention  of  those  who  believe  that  every  line  of 
the  Bible  has  been  long  since  exhausted  of  all  its  truth. 

6.  There  is  an  allusion,  in  the  account  which  has  been 
given  of  the  triumph  by  the  Israelites  over  the  Amorites, 
the  accuracy  of  which  can  be  aright  appreciated  only  by 
those  who  bear  in  mind  how  limited  was  the  astronomi- 
cal knowledge  of  that  period,  and  who  set  aside  the  phys- 
ical difficulties  of  the  narrative  by  which  its  light  is 
partly  hidden  :  "  Then  spake  Joshua  to  the  Lord,  in  the 
day  when  the  Lord  delivered  up  the  Amorites  before  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  he  said  in  the  sight  of  Israel,  Sun, 
stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon  ;  and  thou,  Moon,  in  the 
valley  of  Ajalon.  And  the  sun  stood  still,  and  the  moon 
stayed,  until  the  people  had  avenged  themselves  upon 
their  enemies."     Joshua  10:12,  13. 

It  is  of  course  well  known  now,  that  the  sun  and 
moon  are  so  closely  associated  that  the  staying  of  the 
one  implies  the  staying  of  the  other  ;  but  who,  at  that 

*  See  Chapter  on  the  Atmosphere. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  87 

time,  contemplated  such  a  combination  ?  Not  till  after 
long  ages  was  their  connection  revealed  by  astronomy. 
While  in  other  books  called  "  sacred,"  the  strangest  mis- 
takes are  made  as  to  the  sun  and  the  moon,  their  exact 
relation  is  in  this  early  narrative  distinctly  acknowledged. 
The  sun,  it  is  true,  is  related  to  other  planets  in  our  sys- 
tem ;  but  in  this  incident  the  earth  is  the  stand-point, 
and  therefore  appropriately  are  the  moon  and  the  earth 
conjoined.  The  sun  visibly  arrested  in  the  heavens, 
was  all  that  was  essential  for  the  leader  of  the  Israelites  ; 
yet  the  collateral  fact  is  announced — the  moon  staying 
in  the  valley  of  Ajalon.  This  clear  association  of  facts 
which  were  for  ages-  secluded  from  observation  and 
experience,  gives  presumptive  evidence  for  the  Divine 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  common  to  urge  on 
our  attention  the  physical  difficulties  which  the  narrative 
represents  ;  but  is  there  no  obstacle  to  the  ridicule  with 
which  skepticism  has  treated  this  record,  in  the  in- 
sight which  this  combination  shows  ?  Even  admitting 
that  the  writer  did  not  quite  comprehend  the  truth  which 
he  set  forth,  or  that  his  imagination,  not  his  intellect, 
was  the  origin  and  medium  of  its  expression,  how  ac- 
count for  the  fulness  and  the  exactness  of  the  statement 
itself  ?  And  is  it  not  in  thorough  accordance  with  other 
allusions  to  what  lay  beyond  the  reach  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  ?  As  to  the  miracle  itself,  there  are  many  dif- 
ficulties, it  must  be  acknowledged  when  an  exhaustive 
exposition  is  attempted.  In  its  full  acceptation,  it  in- 
volves the  temporary  arrestment  of  great  physical  laws ; 
and,  therefore,  explanations  have  been  offered  to  the  effect 


88  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

that  the  standing  still  was  not  real,  but  apparent,  through  a 
continuance  of  light  protracted  by  some  of  the  ordinary 
processes  of  refraction.  Literally  and  absolutely,  there 
could  be  no  arrestment,  because  the  sun  does  not  travel. 
Prolongation  of  light  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  victory.  The  tempest  of  hail,  and  probably  of 
meteoric  stones,  which  is  described,  favors  the  supposi- 
tion of  the  great  astronomer,  Kepler  :  "  They  will  not  un- 
derstand," he  says,  "  that  the  only  thing  which  Joshua 
prayed  for  was  that  the  mountains  might  not  intercept 
the  sun  from  him.  Besides,  it  had  been  very  unreason- 
able at  that  time  to  think  of  astronomy,  or  of  the  errors 
of  sight  ;  for  if  any  one  had  told  him  that  the  sun  could 
not  really  move  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon,  but  only  in  re- 
lation to  sense,  would  not  Joshua  have  answered  that  his 
one  desire  was  that  the  day  might  be  prolonged,  so  it 
were  by  any  means  whatever  ?" 

Dean  Stanley,  in  his  well-known  and  deservedly- 
valued  work,  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Church,"  while 
taking  a  similar  view,  is  apparently  inclined  to  admit  a 
poetical  coloring  beyond  what  the  narrative  warrants. 
"These  words  in  the  book  of  Joshua,"  he  says,  "were 
doubtless  intended  to  express  that,  in  some  manner,  in 
answer  to  Joshua's  earnest  prayer,  the  day  was  prolonged 
till  the  victory  was  achieved.  How,  or  in  what  way,  we 
are  not  told  :  and  if  we  take  the  words  in  the  popular 
and  poetical  sense  in  which,  from  their  style,  it  is  clear 
that  they  are  used,  there  is  no  occasion  for  inquiry. 
That  some  such  general  sense  is  what  was  understood  in 
the   ancient  Jewish  church  itself,  is  evident   from  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  89 

slight  emphasis  laid  upon  the  incident  by  Josephus,  and 
the  Samaritan  book  of  Joshua  ;  and  from  the  absence  of 
any  subsequent  allusion  to  it  (unless,  indeed,  in  a  similar 
poetic  strain)  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament."  He  ad- 
verts to  Habakkuk  3:11,  and  makes  the  following  apt 
quotations  from  Josephus,  in  a  note :  "  He  then  heard 
that  God  was  helping  him,  by  the  signs  of  thunder,  light- 
ning, and  unusual  hailstones  ;  and  that  the  day  was  in- 
creased lest  the  night  should  check  the  zeal  of  the  He- 
brews. That  the  length  of  the  day  did  then  increase, 
and  was  longer  than  usual,  is  told  in  the  books  laid 
up  in  the  temple."*  The  Samaritan  book  of  Joshua  says 
'that  "the  day  was  prolonged  at  his  prayer,"  and  the 
opinion  of  Dr.  Chalmers  is  to  the  same  effect,  but  is 
stated  with  a  fuller  and  firmer  reference  to  the  literal 
aspect  of  the  narrative.  "The  shower  of  hailstones,"  he 
says,  "  was  miraculous  ;  and,  in  regard  to  the  much-con- 
troverted miracle  of  the  sun  and  moon  standing  still,  I 
have  no  doubt  it  was  so  to  the  effect  of  the  sun-dial  be- 
ing stationary,  which  leaves  room  for  the  speculation  that 
it  may  have  been  by  atmospherical  refraction,  or  in  other 
ways.  I  am  not  so  staggered  by  this  narrative  as  to  feel 
dependent  on  the  usual  explanations.  I  accept  of  it  in 
the  popular  and  effective  sense,  having  no  doubt  that  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  of  that  day's  history,  the  sun 
and  moon  did  stand  still,  the  one  resting  over  Gibeon, 
the  other  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon."f  Even  assuming 
that  the  storm  was  in  full  accord  with  the  laws  of  nature, 

*  "  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  church,"  pp„  245,  246. 
t  "Daily  Scripture  Readings,"  vol.  1,  p.  395. 
8* 


90  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

there  is  in  the  hail,  in  the  meteoric  stones,  in  the  gloom, 
in  the  refraction  of  the  light,  (probable,  at  least,)  and  in 
appearance  of  the  moon,  taken  along  with  the  contest 
in  the  elements,  and  with  the  prayer  of  Joshua,  such  a 
combination  of  facts  as  places  the  whole  narrative  for 
moral  purposes  under  the  direct  guidance  of  the  Great 
Governor  of  the  universe.  In  short,  there  is  in  the  nar- 
rative nothing  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  evidence  for 
the  truth  of  Scripture  which  has  been  presented  to  us  in 
the  unexpected  union  of  sun  and  moon  in  Joshua's  peti- 
tion, when  ordinarily  the  sun  alone  was  necessary  for  the 
miracle.  In  one  of  a  very  able  course  of  lectures  on 
Christianity  and  Skepticism,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tyler,  while  he 
has  himself  "  no  difficulty  in  accepting"  what  is  stated 
as  simple  matter  of  fact,  and  "  true  in  the  fullest  and 
most  literal  sense,  when  interpreted  according  to  the 
common  laws  of  language,"  offers  the  following  summary 
of  Keil's  suggestions  on  the  passage  :  "  And  the  Bible 
always  describes  natural  phenomena  as  they  appear,  and 
in  the  language  of  the  people,  not  according  to  the  doc- 
trine or  the  language  of  physical  science.  But  this  pas- 
sage is  expressly  cited  from  a  book  of  poems,  the  book 
of  Joshua.  The  language  also  is  metrical,  and  admits  of 
being  arranged  in  the  form  of  verses.  It  has  the  parallel- 
ism and  the  other  characteristic  marks  of  Hebrew  poe- 
try ;  and,  irrespective  of  their  theological  opinions,  crit- 
ics now  generally  agree  to  read  it  as  a  poetical  quotation. 
It  must,  therefore,  be  interpreted,  not  as  prose,  but  as 
poetry  ;  not  as  a  part  of  the  narrative  by  the  sacred  his- 
torian, but  as  a  fragment  from  some  Hebrew  bard,  cited 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  91 

by  way  of  embellishment.  And  so  interpreted,  it  means, 
perhaps,  no  more  than  this  :  So  long  did  the  day  seem 
to  those  who  were  engaged  in  the  conflict,  and  so  com- 
plete was  the  destruction  of  the  enemies  of  Israel,  that, 
in  the  strong  language  of  a  bold  and  contemporary  poet, 
it  might  be  said  the  sun  and  moon  stood  still  in  the 
heavens,  and  the  day  was  prolonged  far  beyond  its  usual 
duration,  till  the  confederate  host  was  utterly  extinguished. 
So,  in  the  song  of  Deborah,  it  is  said  that  '  the  stars  in 
their  courses  fought  against  Sisera,'  upon  which  no  one 
would  think  of  putting  any  other  than  a  poetical  inter- 
pretation. And  when  Isaiah  prayed  to  the  Lord  in  the 
name  of  his  people,  '  Oh !  that  thou  wouldest  rend  the 
heavens  and  come  down,  that  the  mountains  might 
flow  down  at  thy  presence  !'  or  when  David  sings,  '  In 
my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  ...  he  heard  my 
voice  out  of  his  temple,  ...  he  bowed  the  heavens  also 
and  came  down,  ...  he-  sent  from  above,  and  took  me  ; 
he  drew  me  out  of  many  waters  ;'  who  is  there  who  ever 
thinks  of  understanding  these  words  literally,  as  deno- 
ting an  actual  rending  the  heavens,  or  a  desire  that  God 
would  actually  descend  from  heaven  and  stretch  out  his 
hand  to  draw  David  out  of  the  waters  ?" 

But  Keil,  in  his  Commentary,  is  even  more  explicit 
and  decided  than  the  summary  by  Dr.  Tyler  at  first 
sight  indicates.  "  We  do  not  hesitate,"  he  says,  "  to  believe 
in  such  a  miracle  in  its  fullest  extent,  whenever  this  is  the 
meaning  obtained  from  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  words, 
or  when  it  can  be  exegetically  proved  to  be  the  only  ad- 
missible and  necessary  one.     For  even  though,  in  the 


92  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

whole  of  the  world's  history,  no  other  such  miracle  may 
ever  have  occurred,  yet  in  the  fact  that  it  only  happened 
once,  there  is  just  as  little  to  disturb  our  faith  as  are  ob- 
jections founded  upon  the  invariable  order  with  which 
the  heavenly  bodies  revolve  according  to  the  eternal  laws 
implanted  in  them  by  the  Author  of  Nature.  These 
laws,  in  our  opinion,  are  nothing  more  than  terms  by 
which  men  are  accustomed  to  designate  certain  manifes- 
tations of  the  creative  power  of  God,  the  nature  of  which 
no  mortal  has  explored  ;  and  we  can  therefore  believe 
that  the  Creator,  in  his  omnipotence,  would  depart  from 
the  so-called  laws  of  nature,  whenever  in  his  inscrutable 
wisdom  he  saw  that  it  was  necessary  for  the  salvation  of 
men,  for  whose  redemption  he  did  not  even  spare  his 
own  Son."  He  proceeds  to  state  that  the  physical  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  accepting  this  narrative,  and  the  fact 
that  no  account  of  it  is  met  with  in  the  annals  of  other 
nations,  would  not  in  the  least  excite  any  doubts  in  his 
mind  of  its  historical  veracity  :  yet  he  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  which  we  have  already  set  forth. 

Even  if  Keil's  view  be  adopted  as  the  most  satisfac- 
tory, we  hold  that  the  narrative  or  quotation  is  so  adjust- 
ed in  its  terms  as  to  be  placed  for  our  guidance  in  an 
unerring  Bible  ;  and  the  connection  of  the  sun  and  the 
moon  is  so  divested  of  all  that  is  incompatible  with  fact, 
that  what  is  recorded  harmonizes  exactly  with  the  astro- 
nomical conditions.  For  our  own  part,  we  prefer  the 
inference  that  the  day  was  prolonged  by  extraordinary 
conditions  of  the  atmosphere,  and  by  the  refraction  of 
the  light,  or  by  some  other  such  cause,  producing  sta- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  93 

tionariness  for  a  time  in  the  sun-dial.  Be  the  explana- 
tory facts  what  they  may,  the  result  was  miraculous,  and 
in  answer  to  Joshua's  prayer. 

There  are  other  incidental  allusions  which,  while  they 
seem  to  be  poetical,  and  fit  only  to  be  explained  by  its 
imagery,  or  to  be  regarded  as  of  practical  value  chiefly 
in  giving  pleasure,  may  yet  be  discovered  to  be  substan- 
tially matter  of  fact,  and  to  be  connected,  as  by  romance, 
with  some  of  the  most  wonderful  operations  of  nature. 
What  has  already  happened  in  some  instances,  may  be 
applicable  in  many.  It  will  be  admitted  that  there  is, 
possibly,  much  more  in  many  passages  than  figurative 
language,  and  that,  without  any  undue  stretch  of  the 
ordinary  laws  of  criticism,  they  may  yet  shed  light  on 
some  law  or  fact  in  science.  Difficulties  which  Christian 
apologists  have  endeavored  to  remove  under  the  allega- 
tion that  the  language  is  poetical,  have  already  evanished 
in  the  light  of  ascertained  results. 

7.  The  earth,  long  acknowledged  by  many  to  be  flat 
and  square,  or  circular,  and  often  made  the  subject  of 
absurd  expositions,  was  very  accurately  and  very  beauti- 
fully described  by  Job,  in  that  olden  record,  "  He  stretch- 
eth  out  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and  hangeth  the 
earth  upon  nothing.  He  bindeth  up  the  waters  in  his 
thick  clouds ;  and  the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them." 
Job  26  : 7,  8.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  could  not  have  more 
succinctly  stated'  the  position  of  the  earth,  nor  could  any 
of  our  meteorologists  give  fitter  outline  of  our  cloud  sys- 
tem than  this  and  similar  descriptions  embody.  Again, 
taken  in  connection  with  that  vivid  delineation  of  the 


94  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

close  of  the  present  dispensation  by  St.  Peter,  to  which 
reference  has  been  already  made,  the  following  statement 
by  Job  indicates  the  condition  of  the  earth's  centre. 
Whether  or  not  he  perceived  its  force,  it  certainly  har- 
monizes with  the  most  recent  findings  of  science:  "As 
for  the  earth,  out  of  it  cometh  bread;  and  under  it  is 
turned  up  as  it  were  fire."  Job  28 :  5.  Further,  the 
agencies  affecting  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  and  giv- 
ing character  to  its  scenery,  while  explaining  its  history, 
are  vividly  set  forth  by  Job,  when  he  says,  "  And  surely 
the  mountain  falling  cometh  to  naught,  (or  fadeth,)  and 
the  rock  is  removed  out  of  his  place.  The  waters  wear 
the  stones  ;  thou  washest  away  the  things  which  grow 
out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth."  Job  14 :  18,  19.  The  very 
processes  which  modern  geologists  are  engaged  in  keenly 
discussing,  as  accounting  for  the  variety  of  our  Scottish 
scenery,  are  specified  in  the  language  of  the  patriarch. 
Comprehensively,  these  delineations  in  Scripture  may 
possibly  represent  universal  geologic  movements. 

8.  But  still  further,  while  the  changes  proceeding  on 
the  land-surface,  in  relation  to  its  mountains,  valleys,  and 
rivers,  are  incidentally  noticed  in  such  general  terms  as 
any  geologist  might  employ,  the  character  of  the  great 
ocean  itself  is  found  to  be  in  strict  conformity  to  the  com- 
mand of  God,  that  "  the  water  bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life."  But  this  was  not  done 
until  a  separation  had  been  made  between  the  sea  and 
land,  as  on  the  third  day,  and  that  river-system  had  been 
established  which  is  related  to  the  saltness  of  the  sea, 
the  maintenance  of  much  of  its  life,  and  the  processes  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  95 

evaporation  necessary  both  for  sea  and  land.  The  theo- 
ries as  to  the  origin  of  the  sea's  saltness  we  need  not 
here  discuss ;  it  is  enough  that  the  constitution  which 
the  Creator  has  given  to  the  ocean  fits  it  for  abundant 
life.  Historically,  the  record  in  Genesis  is  true.  The 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Great  Ruler  are  visible  in 
every  process,  and  the  prolific  ocean  now  quivers  with 
life.  The  abundance  of  the  living  is  one  of  the  greatest 
"wonders  of  the  deep,"  which  the  microscope  has  re- 
vealed in  its  own  almost  boundless  domain. 

9.  There  are  various  other  passages  whose  meaning 
has  of  late  become  more  distinct  in  the  light  of  science ; 
as,  for  example,  Leviticus  17:  11,  which  recent  physio- 
logical inquiries  have  illustrated  ;  and  also  Job  14  : 7-9, 
and  Job  28 : 1-6,  in  which  we  have  what  have  been 
regarded  as  the  oldest  and  most  instructive  notices  of 
Natural  History  in  existence ;  but  it  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  press  them  into  this  general  argument. 

Although  these  allusions  in  the  Word  of  God,  as 
coinciding  with  facts  in  his  works,  may  not  be  regarded 
by  many  as  conveying  any  very  decided  evidence  of  a 
positive  kind  for  the  harmony  of  both ;  yet  it  will  be 
admitted  they  are  of  special  subsidiary  value  when  con- 
trasted with  those  uninspired  histories  of  the  world  which 
have  been  given  forth  in  succeeding  ages  and  in  different 
lands,  not  one  of  whose  general  outlines  can,  for  an  in- 
stant, bear  the  application  of  those  crucial  tests  which 
even  the  allusions  of  Scripture  not  only  sustain  but  wel- 
come, as  often,  if  not  always,  more  fully  eliciting  their 
meaning. 


96  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Let  it  be  understood,  that  it  is  only  on  this  ground 
we  have  submitted  these  considerations  for  acceptance ; 
and  that  we  do  not  regard  them  as  constituting  more 
than  incidental  or  subordinate  proof.  While  we  freely 
acknowledge  that  the  Scriptures  represent  facts  in  those 
aspects  which  are  most  familiar  to  ordinary  observation, 
and  not  in  their  more  recondite  or  exactly  scientific  rela- 
tions, we  may  legitimately  reason  that  these  references 
or  allusions  are  indicative  of  the  accuracy  and  value  of 
the  Bible,  when  we  find  it  covering  at  once  the  results  of 
common  experience  and  the  more  recent  discoveries  of 
science. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  97 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  GEOLOGIC  FULNESS  OF  TIME  WHEN  MAN  APPEARED. 

It  is  surely  no  incredible  thing,  that  He  who,  in  the  dispensation  of  the 
human  period,  spake  by  type  and  symbol,  and  who,  when  He  walked  the 
earth  in  the  flesh,  taught  in  parable  and  allegory,  should  have  also  spoken 
in  the  Geologic  ages  by  prophetic  figures,  embodied  in  the  form  and  struc- 
ture of  animals. — HUGH  MILLER. 

In  the  distant  past,  not  a  trace  of  man's  presence  nas 
been  found.  He  is  "  of  yesterday."  While  the  stone 
volume  has  preserved  for  us  the  slight  impressions  of 
the  Annelid  and  the  foot-trail  of  perished  Molluscs  in  the 
soft  mud  over  which  they  crawled  ;  while  it  has  restored 
to  us  in  perfect  shape  the  delicately-constructed  many- 
lensed  eye  of  the  Trilobite,  and  has  kept  exact  record  of 
the  death  struggles  of  fishes  on  the  sands  of  olden  seas  ; 
while  it  has  delineated  on  carboniferous  columns  fern- 
leaves  exquisitely  delicate  in  structure  as  the  finest  spe- 
cies of  modern  times ;  and  while  the  rain-drops  of  long 
bygone  ages  have  left  imprints  which  reveal  to  us  the 
course  which  even  the  wind  followed  ;  not  a  trace  of  man 
is  visible.  Only  at  the  close  does  he  appear ;  science 
finds  him  where  the  Scriptures  placed  him,  and  sees  in 
him  the  crown  which  continuous  type  had  long  fore- 
shadowed. 

Not  only  are  there  advances  in  animal  structure  which 
are  prophetic  of  man's  higher  organization,  but,  through 

9 


98  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

what  at  one  time  seemed  utterly  confused  and  meaning- 
less, there  is  abundant  evidence  of  definite  purpose  in 
storing  the  earth  with  those  plants  and  animals  which 
are  best  fitted  to  meet  man's  necessities.  He  was  not 
introduced  to  a  barren  region  or  an  empty  home.  There 
clearly  appears,  about  the  time  of  his  taking  his  place  on 
the  earth,  such  a  series  of  adjustments  for  his  use  and 
comfort,  as  cannot  be  even  plausibly  connected  with  the 
chance  struggles  of  natural  selection.  The  plants  and 
animals  which  are  discoverable  only  in  comparatively 
recent  periods,  are  so  numerous  and  so  fully  suited  to  the 
wants  of  man,  that  we  cannot  find  an  explanation  of  this 
harmony  of  production  apart  from  Purpose  in  relation  to 
him.  Plants,  fishes,  quadrupeds,  and  even  the  delicate 
distribution  of  colors,  furnish  evidence  which  is  by  far 
too  commonly  overlooked.  We  can  do  little  more  than 
allude  to  some  of  the  leading  facts  which  have  been 
brought  within  the  easy  reach  of  every  inquirer.  Agas- 
siz  and  Hugh  Miller  have  given  special  prominence  to 
the  proof  of  a  gradual  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man. 

I.  As  to  Plants. — Not  until  we  enter  on  the  Tertiary 
period  do  we  find  flowers,  amid  which  man  might  have 
profitably  labored  as  a  dresser  of  gardens,  a  tiller  of 
fields,  or  a  keeper  of  flocks  and  herds.  Not,  indeed,  until 
late  in  this  period,  is  there  any  appearance  of  several 
orders  and  families  of  plants  which  are  useful  to  man, 
and  which  contribute  largely  to  his  pleasure.  Among 
these  orders  we  may  mention  that  of  the  Rosacea;,  to 
which  gardeners  invariably  look  with  unfailing  interest. 
It  includes  the  apple,  the  pear,  the  cherry,  the  plum,  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  99 

peach,  the  apricot,  the  nectarine,  the  raspberry,  the  straw- 
berry ;  nor  ought  we  to  omit  reference  to  those  delight- 
giving  and  useful  flowers,  roses  and  potentillas,  the  his- 
tory of  which  commenced  with  that  of  Man.* 

It  is  no  less  remarkable  that  the  true  grasses — a' still 
more  important  order — including  the  grain-giving  plants, 
oats,  barley,  wheat,  and  others,  which  sustain  "at  least 
two-thirds  of  the  human  speeies,"  and  which  also,  "  in 
their  humble  varieties,  form  the  staple  food  of  the  gi'azing 
animals,"  do  not  appear  until  close  on  the  human  period. 
There  are  other  plants  also  which  add  to  man's  comfort 
or  gratify  his  senses,  which  are  not  found  in  the  fossil 
state — lavender,  mint,  thyme,  hyssop,  basil,  rosemary, 
marjoram.  They  have  apparently  been  introduced  to 
prepare  for  man  their  varied  fragrance  and  virtues. 

2.  As  to  Fishes. — And  not  until  this  recent  period  did 
the  sea  become  the  home  of  fishes  that  could  prove  nutri- 
tious or  tasteful  to  man.  A  review  of  the  various  changes 
which  have  appeared  at  different  periods  in  the  history 
of  fishes,  leads  to  this  inference;  Professor  Owen  has 
distinctly  stated  "  that  those  species,  such  as  the  nutri- 
tious cod,  the  savory  herring,  the  rich-flavored  salmon, 
and  the  succulent  turbot,"  displaced  immediately  before 
man's  advent  those  species  which  were  coarse  and  un- 
suitable food  ;  and  that  then  and  subsequently  they  be- 
came very  abundant. 

3.  As  to  Quadrupeds. — While  we  admit  the  weakness 
of  merely  negative  statements  in  establishing  any  fact, 
there  is  yet  so  much  that  is  forcible  in  the  absence  from 

*  See  "Testimony  of  the  Rocks,"  p.  48. 


ioo  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  fossil  state  of  many  of  those  life-forms  which  now 
surround  man,  that  we  are  justifiable  in  explicitly  refer- 
ring to  it  as  probable  evidence.  No  geologist  denies 
that  the  gigantic  forms  of  mammalian  life,  by  which  the 
Miocene  and  Pliocene  period  were  distinguished,  ceased 
near  the  time  of  man's  appearance ;  and  that  only  a  few 
of  those  larger  animals  remained  which  were  not  incon- 
sistent with  his  safety  and  comfort.  Nor  will  any  hesi- 
tate to  admit  that,  as  new  plants  then  appeared,  so  also 
quadrupeds  not  known  before  took  the  place  of  those 
which  had  passed  away.  Among  them  the  sheep  is  con- 
spicuous, not  only  for  its  own  qualities,  but  for  the  extent; 
to  which  it  has  ever  ministered  to  the  various  wants  of 
man.  Hugh  Miller,  with  evident  delight,  describes  the 
peculiar  adaptation  of  this  favorite  animal  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  a  large  proportion  of  the  human  race,  as  "  that 
soft  and  harmless  creature  that  clothes  civilized  man 
everywhere  in  the  colder  latitudes  with  its  fleece — that 
feeds  him  with  its  flesh — that  gives  its  bowels  to  be  spun 
into  the  catgut  with  which  he  refits  his  musical  instru- 
ments— whose  horns  he  has  learned  to  fashion  into  a 
thousand  useful  trinkets — and  whose  skin,  converted 
into  parchment,  served  to  convey  to  later  times  the  think- 
ing of  the  first  full  blow  of  the  human  intellect  across 
the  dreary  gulf  of  the  middle  ages."  While  some  refuse 
to  acknowledge  the  importance  of  the  contemporaneous 
connection  with  man  of  such  plants  and  animals  as  we 
have  specified,  no  theistic  evolutionist  of  note  for  attain- 
ments in  science  hesitates  to  admit  that  they  were  at 
least  indirectly  preparatory  to  man's  advent. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  101 

4.  As  to  Color. — There  is  distinct  evidence  of  prepa- 
ration for  man  in  the  distribution  and  adjustments  of 
color,  which  alone  must  interest  every  student  of  the  Bi- 
ble and  the  natural  sciences.  The  very  appearance  of  all 
things  has  been  adapted  to  the  human  constitution.  This 
important  fact  has  been  commonly  overlooked.  The  no- 
tion had  long  prevailed  that  there  was  no  law  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  colors  ;  but  this  error  has  been  corrected. 
The  subject  has  been  elaborately  discussed  by  Dr.  Dickie 
and  President  M'Cosh,  who  have  shown  that  there  is,  in 
flowers,  a  permanent  relation  between  form  and  color, 
and  an  unfailing  harmony  in  the  distribution  of  colors  in 
the  same  plant. 

True,  it  cannot  yet  be  demonstrated  that  these  rela- 
tions rest  on  a  scientific  basis,  so  as  to  connect  the  ad- 
justments in  colors  with  aesthetic  tendencies  or  laws  in 
the  human  mind ;  yet  the  evidence  warrants  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  has  been  a  gradual  evolution  of  forms  and 
colors  until  those  results  have  been  educed  most  pleasing 
to  the  eye,  and  of  which  there  is  no  manifestation  until 
about  the  time  when  man  was  created. 

Assuming  that  in  successive  geologic  periods  plants 
have  been  formed  according  to  the  same  law — an  assump- 
tion fairly  warranted  by  facts — Dr.  Dickie  has  inferred 
that  the  association  of  colors  will  be  similar — that  is, 
they  will  harmonize  with  the  forms  of  the  plants.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  prevailing  colors  in  any  geologic  period 
may  be  determined  by  the  prevailing  forms  of  its  vegeta- 
ble life.  In  the  earlier  geological  periods — when  ferns 
were  the  chief  forms — green,  purple,  and  russet,  gave 

9* 


io2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  landscape  a  sombre  character;  and  in  a  subsequent 
stage,  when  cone-bearing  plants  rose  everywhere,  the 
general  dulness  was  but  little  lessened.  Not  until  the 
beginning  of  the  chalk  formation,  is  there  a  very  evi- 
dent advance  towards  existing  forms  and  colors.  Not, 
indeed,  until  the  latest  period — that  nearest  to  man — do 
we  find  the  flowers  which  most  enhance  our  pleasures, 
invested  with  their  fascinating  hues,  and  so  arranged  as 
to  exhibit  those  principles  of  science  which  schools  of 
art  are  struggling  to  represent.  "  In  a  skilful  piece  of 
art,  the  more  prominent  figures  are  made  to  rise  out  of 
colors  which  attract  no  notice.  It  is  the  same  in  the 
beautiful  canvas  which  is  spread  out  before  us  in  earth 
and  sky.  The  ground-colors  of  nature,  if  not  all  neutral, 
are  at  least  all  soft  and  retiring.  How  grateful  should 
we  be  that  the  sky  is  not  usually  dressed  in  red  ;  that 
the  clouds  are  not  painted  crimson ;  that  the  carpet  of 
grass  on  which  we  tread  is  not  yellow,  and  the  trees  are 
not  decked  with  orange  leaves  !  The  soil  in  most  places 
is  a  sort  of  brown  ;  the  mature  trunks  of  trees  commonly 
take  some  kind  of  neutral  hue ;  the  true  color  of  the  sky 
is  a  soft  blue,  except  when  covered  with  gray  clouds ; 
and  the  foliage  of  vegetation  is  a  refreshing  green.  It 
is  out  from  the  midst  of  these  that  the  more  regular  and 
elegant  forms,  and  the  gayer  colors  of  nature,  come  forth 
to  arrest  the  attention,  to  excite  and  dazzle  us,  not  only 
by  their  own  splendor,  but  by  comparison  and  contrast."* 
Pains  must  be  taken  by  art-students  to  determine 
what  colors  should  be  in  juxtaposition,  and  what  kept  at  a 
*  *  Typical  Forms  and  Special  Ends,"  pp.  152,  153. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  103 

distance  from  each  other.  In  the  manufacture  of  our 
finest  fabrics,  and  in  staining  glass  for  windows,  no  one 
neglects  those  rules  which  are  prescribed  by  science  and 
sanctioned  by  experience ;  but  it  is  only  recently  in  the 
history  of  our  civilization  that  we  have  discovered  those 
principles  according  to  which  colors  in  nature  have  been 
associated  from  the  beginning.  The  colors  suit  us.  They 
meet  our  taste ;  they  delighted  us  in  childhood  and  they 
please  us  in  our  advancing  years.  Not  a  flower  in  the 
field  or  the  forest,  not  a  colored  shell  in  sea  or  river,  that 
fails  to  illustrate  or  exemplify  permanent  principles. 
Even  the  commonest  of  all  our  early  favorites  shows  the 
beautiful  distribution  of  colors  with  as  much  exactness  as 
the  cell  of  the  honey-bee  or  the  whorl  of  the  shell  its 
mechanical  lines. 

How  is  it  that  the  plants,  the  land  animals,  and  the 
fishes,  most  conducive  to  man's  well-being,  only  first 
exist  when  he  comes  in  view  ?  how  is  it  that  the  miner- 
als, the  metals,  the  coals,  the  salt,  all  the  things  he  needs, 
are  stored  within  his  reach  ?  how  is  it  that  not  until  near 
the  human  period,  the  colors  in  nature  are  so  harmonized 
alike  in  their  gayer  and  their  most  subdued  aspects,  as 
most  to  give  him  delight  ?  and  how  has  man  become  so 
constituted  as  to  be  in  such  delicate  relation  to  all  around 
him  ?     Surely  there  is  benevolent  purpose  in  all  this. 

In  his  well-known  work  on  "  The  Origin  of  Species," 
Mr.  Darwin  asks  us  to  believe  that  these  beautiful  adap- 
tations are  not  in  the  least  due  to  design,  but  to  the  slow 
operations  and  decisions  of  natural  selection,  if  indeed 
there  can  be  decision  without  design.     The  very  colors 


104  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

which  man  most  admires  are,  according  to  this  school  of 
theorists,  in  no  way  representative  of  purpose.  That  the 
sky  is  blue  and  not  scarlet,  that  the  leaves  of  the  land- 
scape are  not  yellow  and  the  soil  not  crimson,  are  the 
chance  evolutions  of  this  mysterious  something,  which 
has  neither  intelligence  nor  beginning  of  days.  The 
mere  suggestion  that  all  this  wealth  of  beauty  in  varied 
colors,  and  proportion  in  form,  and  gracefulness  of  move- 
ment, and  the  tint  of  the  atmosphere,  are  in  any  respect 
an  end  and  not  accidental,  Mr.  Darwin  resentfully  re- 
jects. They  are  with  him  no  part  of  a  plan,  nor  are  they 
intended  to  please.  It  is  really  difficult  to  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  such  convictions  as  are  seriously  asserted. 
"  Some  naturalists,"  he  says,  "  believe  that  very  many 
structures  have  been  created  for  beauty  in  the  eyes  of 
men,  or  for  mere  variety.  This  doctrine,  if  true,  would 
be  absolutely  fatal  to  my  theory."*  It  comes  to  this, 
that  the  theory  which  we  are  asked  to  accept  instead  of 
that  record  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  one  which 
gives  beauty  without  an  end,  laws  without  an  author, 
works  without  a  maker,  and  coordination  without  design. f 
He  excludes  from  creation  the  idea  of  intended  beauty. 
Man's  history  began,  he  knows  not  how,  millions  of  mill- 
ions of  years  ago,  in  that  first  germ  of  life  out  of  which 
have  been  developed  all  plants  and  animals,  by  those 
processes,  complicated  and  undefinable,  which  transpired, 
until,  at  last,  he  rose  on  the  theatre  of  life,  its  crown  and 
glory,  "fearfully  made"  in  body  and  still  more  mysteri- 
ously framed  in  spirit. 
*  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  219.     t  See  Phillips'  "Life  on  Earth,"  p.  63. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  105 

With  what  majestic  comprehensiveness  and  precision 
must  natural  selection  have  guided  all  processes  and 
struggles,  when  the  lowest  lichen  or  simplest  spore  has 
risen  to  be  the  apple  tree,  the  peach,  the  plum,  the  nec- 
tarine, the  wheat,  the  thyme,  and  the  other  grains  and 
herbs  necessary  for  man  just  before  he  came;  with  what 
precision  have  the  lowest  worms  risen  to  be  the  fishes, 
the  birds,  and  the  quadrupeds  he  most  needed  ;  and  with 
what  astonishing  parallel  exactness  have  the  chemical 
processes  kept  pace  with  all  other  movements  in  earth, 
and  sea,  and  sky,  when,  in  the  use  of  the  soil,  in  the 
structure  of  plants,  in  their  form,  in  their  foliage,  in  their 
flowers,  there  issued  at  last  the  distribution  of  those  very 
forms  and  colors  which  not  only  most  conduce  to  man's 
comfort,  but  most  gratify  his  taste  !  In  separate  spheres 
and  without  connection — in  the  inorganic  masses  of  the 
globe — in  plant  and  animal  life — in  the  atmosphere  and 
in  the  heavens — through  long,  fitful,  imperfect,  and  fre- 
quently unfinished  processes — natural  selection  has  thus 
been  at  work,  and  without  a  purpose,  or  design,  or  end  in 
any  shape,  has  given  to  the  world  its  present  wondrous 
structure,  and  to  all  life  its  present  subtle  characters  ! 
Does  not  this  whole  theory  draw  excessively  on  our  im- 
agination, and  raise  difficulties  incomparably  greater  than 
all  those  which  Rationalism  has  conjured  up  against  the 
miracles  of  the  Bible  ? 

To  these  questions  we  shall  more  fully  direct  atten- 
tion at  a  subsequent  stage. 


io6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  BIBLE  ACCOUNT  OF  MAN'S  ORIGIN THE  OPINION  THAT 

HE  WAS   MIRACULOUSLY    BORN THE  THEORY  THAT  HE 

WAS  NATURALLY  DEVELOPED. 

What  man  holds  of  matter  does  not  make  up  his  personality.     Man  is 
not  an  organism,  he  is  an  intelligence  served  by  organs ;  they  are  his — 

not  he. — SIR  WILLIAM  HAMILTON. 

Having  examined  the  geological  evidence,  showing 
the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  the  human  race,  let  us 
next  inquire  into 

i.  man's  origin. 

Whence  is  man  ?  Was  he  miraculously  born  of  some 
creature  nearly  human,  as  some  Christian  apologists  are 
disposed  to  believe  ?  Was  he  evolved  from  some  germ 
of  life  originated  untold  ages  ago,  as  some  naturalists 
have  endeavored  to  demonstrate  ?  or  was  he  miraculously 
made  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  as  the  Scriptures  have  dis- 
tinctly affirmed  ?  While  we  have  been  taught  to  accept 
what  the  Scriptures  have  declared  on  this  subject,  we  are 
not  at  liberty  to  disregard  those  difficulties  which  have 
weighed  with  others,  nor  the  solutions  which  have  satis- 
fied them.  Let  us  examine  those  accounts  of  man's 
origin  which  are  at  present  most  engaging  attention. 

i.  The  Bible  Account. — It  has,  at  least,  the  merit  of 
explicitness,  and  is  thoroughly  intelligible.  "  And  God 
said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness ; 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  107 

and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  all  the  cattle,  and  over 
every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  on  the  earth.  So 
God  created  man  in  his  own  image:  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him ;  make  and  female  created  he  them/' 
Gen.  1  :  26,  27.  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life  ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  Gen. 
2:7.  If  these  passages  teach  any  truth  with  greater  em- 
phasis than  another,  it  is  that,  by  the  creative  act  of  God, 
man  was  made  perfect  in  relation  to  bodily  vigor  and 
intellectual  capacity.  Of  the  mode  by  which  there  arose 
out  of  dust  a  body  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  noth- 
ing is  told  us  ;  but  the  fact  is  distinctly  stated.  A  higher 
being  had  appeared,  connected  with  the  earth  and  largely 
dependent  on  it,  and  yet  not  originated  by  it.  The  pe- 
culiarities of  the  record  are  specially  noteworthy. 

First,  it  is  said,  "Let  us  make  man."  To  no  other 
creative  act  is  there  the  same  introduction.  Man's  ap- 
pearance is  thus  separated  from  all  that  had  gone  before. 
It  is  made  the  occasion  of  a  fuller  revelation  of  truth  ; 
for  a  glimpse  is  given  of  the  great  doctrine  of  more  than 
one  person  in  the  Godhead.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
begins  thus  early  to  be  unfolded. 

The  second  peculiarity  is  in  the  statement,  "  Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image,  after  [or  according  to]  our  like- 
ness." Ingenious  and  subtle  distinctions  have  been  fre- 
quently drawn  between  the  descriptive  terms,  "  in  our 
image"  and  "after  our  likeness;"  but  we  prefer  the 
opinion  of  the  older  theologians,  who  regard  both  as  com- 


108  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

bined  to  give  intensity  to  the  same  thought.  "  Image 
and  likeness,"  says  Dr.  Hodge,  "  means  an  image  which 
is  like."  God  gave  to  the  body  a  perfect  organization, 
breathed  natural  life  into  it,  and  imparted  to  "man"  his 
"own  image."  This  combination  of  the  terms  "image" 
and  "  likeness  "  seems  intended  to  express  man's  person- 
ality, and  his  resemblance  to  the  infinite  and  uncreated 
in  every  way  possible  with  a  being  finite  and  created.* 
Man,  accordingly,  though  at  an  immeasurable  distance 
from  the  Infinite  I  Am,  has  knowledge,  wisdom,  power, 
and  therefore  dominion  over  all  that  has  been  placed 
within  the  sphere  of  his  influence.  As  he  was  intellec- 
tual and  could  knozv,  as  he  was  moral  and  could  love,  he 
had  a  sway  which  no  other  creature  on  earth  can  wield. 
With  these  forces  combined,  he  went  forth  controlling  all 
the  resources  of  nature  which  were  placed  within  his 
reach ;  and  in  possessing  this  spirit,  he  could  be  right- 
fully regarded  as  the  lord  of  this  lower  world  and  as  the 
representative  of  Deity.  In  further  exposition  of  his 
character,  it  is  said,  "  God  made  man  upright."  Intel- 
lectually and  morally  he  was  perfect,  his  powers  were 
rightly  balanced,  his  energies  were  consistently  directed, 
and  holiness  made  lustrous  all  his  history.  The  New 
Testament  sheds  fuller  light  on  the  inner  aspects  of  his 
character  now,  through  two  parallel  statements  by  the 
apostle,  descriptive  of  the  believer;  the  one,  having  "put 
on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  tht 

*  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject,  see  "  Creation  and  the  Fall,' 
by  the  Rev.  D.  MacDonald,  Excursus  I. ;  "Man,  the  Image  of  God,"  and 
"  Systematic  Theology,"  by  Dr.  Hodge,  vol.  2,  pp.  96,  102. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  109 

image  of  Him  that  created  him,"  Col.  3:  10;  and  the 
other,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and 
true  holiness,"  Ephes.  "4  :  24. 

Man  thus  connects  two  worlds,  and  therein  lies  his 
incomparable  preeminence  ;  yet  his  true  superiority  arises 
not  from  his  relations  to  the  living  creatures  that  are 
around  and  beneath  him,  but  from  his  upward  connection 
and  his  being  "in  the  image"  of  God  the  Creator. 

The  third  peculiarity  is  the  reference  to  woman  as 
made  also  with  the  same  nature  and  endowments.  In 
the  other  references  to  new  races  in  the  first  narrative, 
there  is  no  allusion  to  the  female.  And  not  only  is  Eve 
spoken  of  by  Adam  as  "  bone  of  his  bones  and  flesh  of 
his  flesh,"  but  she  is  included  in  the  description  as  being 
formed  in  the  image  of  God.  The  statement  is  too  em- 
phatic to  admit  of  its  being  explained  away :  "  So  God 
created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  crea- 
ted he  him  ;  male  and  female  created  he  them."  Their 
equality  is  here  clearly  set  forth  in  their  origin,  in  their 
dependence  on  God,  in  their  responsibility  to  him,  and  in 
their  possession  of  spiritual  privileges.  No  marvel  that 
Fichte,  the  celebrated  German,  marking  these  realities, 
and  bounding  over  the  barriers  of  an  infidel  philosophy, 
wrote  with  fervor,  "  Who  then  educated  the  first  human 
pair  ?  A  Spirit  bestowed  its  care  upon  them,  as  is  laid 
clown  in  an  ancient  and  venerable  record,  which,  taken 
altogether,  contains  the  profoundest  and  the  loftiest  wis- 
dom, and  presents  those  results  to  which  all  philosophy 
must  yet  return." 

Assuredly,  the  more  closely  this  singular  narrative  is 
10 


io8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

bined  to  give  intensity  to  the  same  thought.  "  Image 
and  likeness,"  says  Dr.  Hodge,  "  means  an  image  which 
is  like."  God  gave  to  the  body  a  perfect  organization, 
breathed  natural  life  into  it,  and  imparted  to  "man"  his 
"own  image!'  This  combination  of  the  terms  "image" 
and  "  likeness  "  seems  intended  to  express  man's  person- 
ality, and  his  resemblance  to  the  infinite  and  uncreated 
in  every  way  possible  with  a  being  finite  and  created.* 
Man,  accordingly,  though  at  an  immeasurable  distance 
from  the  Infinite  I  Am,  has  knowledge,  wisdom,  power, 
and  therefore  dominion  over  all  that  has  been  placed 
within  the  sphere  of  his  influence.  As  he  was  intellec- 
tual and  could  know,  as  he  was  moral  and  could  love,  he 
had  a  sway  which  no  other  creature  on  earth  can  wield. 
With  these  forces  combined,  he  went  forth  controlling  all 
the  resources  of  nature  which  were  placed  within  his 
reach  ;  and  in  possessing  this  spirit,  he  could  be  right- 
fully regarded  as  the  lord  of  this  lower  world  and  as  the 
representative  of  Deity.  In  further  exposition  of  his 
character,  it  is  said,  "  God  made  man  upright."  Intel- 
lectually and  morally  he  was  perfect,  his  powers  were 
rightly  balanced,  his  energies  were  consistently  directed, 
and  holiness  made  lustrous  all  his  history.  The  New 
Testament  sheds  fuller  light  on  the  inner  aspects  of  his 
character  now,  through  two  parallel  statements  by  the 
apostle,  descriptive  of  the  believer;  the  one,  having  "put 
on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in  knozvledge  after  the 

*  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject,  see  "  Creation  and  the  Fall,' 
by  the  Rev.  D.  MacDonald,  Excursus  I. ;  "Man,  the  Image  of  God,"  and 
"  Systematic  Theology,"  by  Dr.  Hodge,  vol.  2,  pp.  96,  102. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  109 

image  of  Him  that  created  him,"  Col.  3:  10;  and  the 
other,  which  after  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and 
true  holiness,"  Ephes.  4. :  24. 

Man  thus  connects  two  worlds,  and  therein  lies  his 
incomparable  preeminence  ;  yet  his  true  superiority  arises 
not  from  his  relations  to  the  living  creatures  that  are 
around  and  beneath  him,  but  from  his  upward  connection 
and  his  being  "in  the  image"  of  God  the  Creator. 

The  third  peculiarity  is  the  reference  to  woman  as 
made  also  with  the  same  nature  and  endowments.  In 
the  other  references  to  new  races  in  the  first  narrative, 
there  is  no  allusion  to  the  female.  And  not  only  is  Eve 
spoken  of  by  Adam  as  "  bone  of  his  bones  and  flesh  of 
his  flesh,"  but  she  is  included  in  the  description  as  being 
formed  in  the  image  of  God.  The  statement  is  too  em- 
phatic to  admit  of  its  being  explained  away :  "  So  God 
created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  crea- 
ted he  him  ;  male  and  female  created  he  them."  Their 
equality  is  here  clearly  set  forth  in  their  origin,  in  their 
dependence  on  God,  in  their  responsibility  to  him,  and  in 
their  possession  of  spiritual  privileges.  No  marvel  that 
Fichte,  the  celebrated  German,  marking  these  realities, 
and  bounding  over  the  barriers  of  an  infidel  philosophy, 
wrote  with  fervor,  "  Who  then  educated  the  first  human 
pair  ?  A  Spirit  bestowed  its  care  upon  them,  as  is  laid 
down  in  an  ancient  and  venerable  record,  which,  taken 
altogether,  contains  the  profoundest  and  the  loftiest  wis- 
dom, and  presents  those  results  to  which  all  philosophy 
must  yet  return." 

Assuredly,  the  more  closely  this  singular  narrative  is 
10 


no  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

examined,  the  more  deeply  impressive  does  it  become,  as 
other  and  seemingly-distant  truths  are  discovered  to  be 
inwrought  with  it.  The  mode  of  man's  introduction  is 
perfectly  conformable  to  his  lofty  personality,  as  that  of 
the  lower  animals  is  to  their  impersonality.  And  as 
man's  history,  in  this  dispensation,  begins  with  the  con- 
stitution of  his  body,  with  the  in-breathing  of  life,  and 
the  imparting  of  God's  image,  so  at  the  commencement 
of  his  heavenly  history  there  will  again,  we  are  told,  be  a 
fashioning  of  his  body  "like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body, 
according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to 
subdue  all  things  unto  himself."  And  the  sanctified 
spirit  entering  that  body  shall  bear  his  image:  "We  shall 
be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  The  first 
stage  in  man's  earthly  course  is  thus  typical  of  that  on 
which  he  shall  enter  at  the  resurrection.  Connections 
that  are  illimitable  and  of  surpassing  interest  here  open 
to  our  view  ;  but  to  trace  them  farther  is  inconsistent 
with  the  object  of  our  present  exposition. 

2.  The  opinion  that  man  zvas  miraculously  bom  next 
claims  our  consideration,  as  having  been  of  late  pressed 
on  the  attention  of  the  Christian  public  by  some  whose 
sincere  acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  can- 
not be  questioned.  They  suppose  that  our  first  parents 
were  not  formed  at  once  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
but  that,  in  some  mysterious  way,  they  were  "born"  as 
human,  of  some  of  the  lower  animals.  The  translator  of 
Lange's  Commentary  of  Genesis  seems  to  entertain  this 
opinion.  In  a  foot-note,  p.  211,  he  says  :  "  But  this  does 
not  exclude  the  idea  that  the  human  physical  was  con- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  in 

nected  with  the  previous  nature,  or  natures,  and  was 
brought  out  of  them.  That  is,  it  was  made  from  the 
earth,  in  the  widest  signification  of  the  term."  And 
after  alluding  to  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  idea 
of  an  outward  image  or  organization,  he  asks,  "  What 
difficulty  or  clanger,  then,  in  giving  to  the  phrase  'from 
the  earth '  the  widest  sense  consistent  with  the  idea  of 
man's  having  an  earthly  as  well  as  a  heavenly  origin  ?" 
As  the  Duke  of  Argyll  in  his  admirable  work,  the  Reign 
of  Lazv,  has  given  prominence  to  this  interpretation,  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  its  bearing  on  the  general  discus- 
sion as  to  the  Bible  record.  As  the  reasoning  of  M. 
Guizot  has  formed  a  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  this 
opinion,  it  is  desirable  to  reproduce  it  here.  In  answer 
to  the  question,  By  what  means  and  by  what  power  has 
the  human  race  commenced  on  Earth  ?  he  says,  "There 
can  be  but  two  explanations  of  man's  origin  :  either  he 
has  been  produced  by  the  proper  and  innate  labor  of  the 
natural  forces  of  matter ;  or  he  is  the  work  of  a  super- 
natural power — external  to,  and  superior  to,  matter.  His 
appearance  here  below  requires  one  of  two  causes — spon- 
taneous generation  or  creation."  He  argues  that,  as  the 
earth  could  not  of  itself  originate  man  and  woman — the 
human  pair  entirely  formed  and  full-grown — the  only 
other  supposition  is,  apart  from  supernatural  influence, 
that  they  were  originated  by  spontaneous  generation.  It 
is  only  under  such  a  condition  that  man  could  have  lived 
or  perpetuated  himself,  and  have  founded  the  human 
race.  "  Let  us  figure  to  ourselves,"  he  says,  "  the  first- 
born man  in  a  state  of  early  infancy,  living,  but  inert, 


Ti2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

unintelligent,  helpless,  incapable  of  supplying  his  own 
wants,  trembling  and  moaning,  with  no  mother  to  hear  or 
nourish  him."  Rejecting  this  supposition,  he  insists  that 
the  other  origin  of  the  human  race  alone  is  admissible, 
and  that  man's  first  appearance  in  this  lower  world  can 
be  explained  only  by  the  supernatural  fact  of  creation.* 

The  Duke  of  Argyll  pronounces  this  "a  common,  but 
not  a  very  safe  argument;"  and  adds,  "To  accept  the 
primeval  narrative  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  as  coming 
from  authority,  and  as  bringing  before  us  the  personal 
agency  of  the  Creator,  but  without  purporting  to  reveal 
the  method  of  this  work — this  is  one  thing.  To  argue 
that  no  other  origin  for  the  first  parents  of  the  human 
race  is  conceivable  than  that  they  were  moulded  perfect, 
without  the  instrumentality  of  means — this  is  quite  an- 
other thing.  The  various  hypotheses  of  development,  of 
which  Darwin's  theory  is  only  a  new  and  special  version, 
whether  they  are  probable  or  not,  are  at  least  advanced 
as  affording  a  possible  escape  from  the  puzzle  which  M. 
Guizot  puts.  These  hypotheses  are  indeed  destitute  of 
proof  ;  and  in  the  form  which  they  have  yet  assumed,  it 
may  justly  be  said  that  they  involve  such  violations  of, 
or  departures  from,  all  that  we  know  of  the  existing  order 
of  things,  as  to  deprive  them  of  all  scientific  basis.  But 
the  close  and  mysterious  relations  between  the  mere  ani- 
mal frame  of  man  and  that  of  the  lower  animals,  does 

*  "  Evidemment.  i'autre  origine  du  genre  humain  est  seul  admissible, 
seul  possible.  J  a:  fait  surnaturel  de  la  creation  explique  seul  la  premiere 
apparition  de  i'honime  ice-bas." — L'Eglise  et  la  Societe  Chretienne  en 
1891.  A  Translation  of  M.  Guizot's  work  has  been  published  by  K. 
Eentley,  London. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  113 

render  the  idea  of  a  common  relationship  by  descent  at 
least  conceivable.  Indeed,  in  proportion  as  it  seems  to 
approach  nearer  to  processes  of  which  we  have  some 
knowledge,  it  is,  in  degree,  more  conceivable  than  crea- 
tion without  any  process — of  which  we  have  no  knowl- 
edge, and  can  have  no  conception.* 

In  what  respect  M.  Guizot's  argument  is  unsafe,  does 
not  readily  appear.  He  directly  connects  the  creation  of 
man  with  the  supernatural  in  that  form  which  the  Bible 
seems  literally  to  describe,  and  by  which  the  argument 
is  disentangled  from  those  difficulties  which  a  helpless 
infancy  and  one  of  the  lower  animals  as  mother  present. 
The  anxiety  of  his  grace  to  secure  a  safe  position  be- 
tween those  who  accept  the  Bible  statement  as  it  stands, 
and  those  who  follow  Darwin's  theory,  leads  him  to  enun- 
ciate principles,  the  legitimate  application  of  which  is 
depreciatory  of  the  historical  directness  of  the  Scripture 
narrative.  In  his  attempt  to  bring  the  supernatural — 
that  is  to  say,  the  superhuman  and  the  supermaterial — 
"nearer  us"  than  M.  Guizot's  argument  does,  or  rather 
to  find  a  place  for  the  formation  of  man,  with  as  few 
physiological  difficulties  as  possible,  his  grace,  as  appears 
to  us,  has  quite  yielded  the  key  to  the  Darwinian  theo- 
rist. While  he  accepts  the  primeval  narrative  as  coming 
from  authority,  and  as  revealing  the  personal  agency  of 
the  Creator,  he  not  only  characterizes  as  a  "puzzle"  the 
reasoning  of  M.  Guizot,  that  by  the  exigencies  of  life 
the  human  race  must  have  had  a  higher  beginning  than 
in  the  helplessness  of  infancy,  but  he  indicates  a  prefer- 

*  *'  Reign  of  Law,"  pp.  28,  29. 
10* 


ii4  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ence  for  the  development  hypothesis,  as  "  at  least  con- 
ceivable" and  "as  affording  a  possible  escape  from  the 
puzzle  which  M.  Guizot  puts."  His  grace's  interpreta- 
tion of  the  words  "  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,"  has 
been  expressed  as  follows  :  "  The  narrative  of  creation  is 
given  to  us  in  abstract  only,  and  is  told  in  two  different 
forms,  both  having  apparently  for  their  main,  perhaps 
their  exclusive  object,  the  presenting  to  our  conception 
the  personal  agency  of  a  living  God.  Yet  this  narrative 
indicates,  however  slightly,  that  room  is  left  for  the  idea 
of  a  material  process.  '  Out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,' 
that  is,  out  of  the  ordinary  elements  of  nature,  was  that 
body  formed,  which  is  still  upheld  and  perpetuated  by  or- 
ganic forces.  Nothing  which  science  has  discovered,  or 
can  discover,  is  capable  of  traversing  that  simple  narra- 
tive."* "  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  method  or 
process  of  creation,  it  is  creation  still.  If  it  were  proved 
to-morrow  that  the  first  man  was  'born'  from  some  pre- 
existing form  of  life,  it  would  still  be  true  that  such  a 
birth  must  have  been,  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  a  new 
creation.  It  would  still  be  as  true  that  God  formed  him 
'  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth.'  as  it  is  true  that  he  has  so 
formed  every  child  who  is  now  called  to  answer  the  first 
question  of  all  theologies."!  His  grace  prefers  the  sup- 
position that  man  was  "born"  of  some  animal,  as  itself 
made  of  "dust"  or  earthly  elements,  because  of  the  close 
relations  between  the  mere  animal  frame  of  man  and  that 
of  the  lower  animals,  and  because  creation  with  a  process 
is  more  easily  conceivable  than  creation  without  it. 
*  "  Reign  of  Law,"  p.  27.    t  Ibid,  pp.  29,  30. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  115 

Divine  interposition  is  admitted,  or  it  is  not ;  if  it  is, 
much  of  his  grace's  reasoning  as  to  the  Reign  of  Law  is 
valueless,  and  the  difficulties  of  the  skeptic  are  not  les- 
sened, for  he  denies  altogether  the  least  evidence  of  the 
supernatural.  If  it  is  not,  and  if  this  "new  creation"  is 
nothing  more  than  a  special  or  singular  result,  evolved 
under  the  Reign  of  Law,  once  and  for  once  only,  there 
is  not  much  difference,  either  historically  or  morally,  be- 
tween the  theory  which  connects  man's  birth  with  one 
of  the  lower  animals  at  a  time  comparatively  recent,  or 
places  his  origin,  ages  ago,  in  some  germ  or  simple  struc- 
ture. The  chief  difference  between  his  grace's  interpre- 
tation and  the  theory  of  Mr.  Darwin,  which  he  repudi- 
ates, is  not  so  much  in  principle  as  in  time  and  process. 

Insisting  on  the  truth  of  Scripture  as  to  a  personal 
Deity,  and  as  to  the  creation  of  man,  his  grace  yet  leaves 
it  uncertain  whether  man  was  born  in  a  state  of  strength 
and  independence  sufficient  for  every  claim  made  on  him, 
or  in  the  feebleness  of  infancy,  with  a  hard  and  constant 
struggle  for  existence  before  him.  Nor  does  he  indicate 
whether  about  the  same  time  or  in  the  same  way  the 
"mother  of  all  living"  was  born.  We  are  left  to  infer 
that  there  were  two  born,  with  suitable  nearness  in  time, 
of  some  ape,  gorilla,  or  other  creature  nearly  human. 
Judging  from  his  grace's  argument  in  another  work,  we 
should  infer  that  he  supposes  both  Adam  and  Eve  were 
similarly  "  born,"  and  that  they  were  endowed  at  once 
with  so  much  vigor  and  so  much  intelligence,  that  they 
could  maintain  their  supremacy  over  all  existences  around 
them,     In  no  other  way  can  we  understand  his  vigorous 


n6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

reasoning  against  Sir  John  Lubbock's  theory — a  theory 
in  one  respect  similar  to  his  own — that  the  human  race 
is  descended  from  some  "  creature  not  worthy  to  be  called 
a  man."  In  combating  Sir  John  Lubbock's  statements, 
his  grace  successfully  shows  that  man,  with  a  mind  far 
in  advance  of  the  animals  around  him,  could  not  "afford 
to  lose  bestial  proportions  of  body,"  and  adds :  "  If  the 
change  in  mental  power  came  simultaneously  with  the 
change  in  physical  organization,  then  it  was  all  that  we 
can  ever  know  or  understand  of  a  new  creation.  There 
is  no  ground  whatever  for  supposing  that  ordinary  gen- 
eration has  been  the  agency  employed,  seeing  that  no 
efforts  similar  in  kind  are  ever  produced  by  that  agency, 
so  far  as  known  to  us."  This  is  sufficiently  explicit  ; 
but  if  ordinary  descent  is  not  the  origin  of  man,  if  some 
extraordinary  power  from  without  the  Reign  of  Law  has 
produced  this  solitary  result,  there  is  nothing  gained  in 
the  way  of  lessening  the  difficulties  which  many  feel  as 
to  supernatural  action ;  and  his  grace  only  suggests  a 
second  mystery  to  remove  the  first.  His  reasoning  ap- 
pears to  be  an  unanswerable  refutation  of  his  own  objec- 
tions to  M.  Guizot's  argument  in  favor  of  the  ordinary 
interpretation. 

"  The  unclothed  and  unprotected  condition  of  the  hu- 
man body,"  he  says,  "  its  comparative  slowness  of  foot, 
the  absence  of  teeth  adapted  for  prehension  or  for  de- 
fence, the  same  want  of  power  for  similar  purposes  in 
the  hands  and  fingers,  the  bluntness  of  the  sense  of 
smell,  such  as  to  render  it  useless  for  the  detection  of 
prey  which  is  concealed — all  these  are  features  which 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  117 

stand  in  strict  and  harmonious  relation  to  the  mental 
powers  of  man.  But  apart  from  these,  they  would  place 
him  at  an  immense  disadvantage  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence. This,  therefore,  is  not  the  direction  in  which 
the  blind  forces  of  natural  selection  could  ever  work. 
The  creature  'not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man,'  to  whom 
Sir  John  Lubbock  has  referred  as  the  progenitor  of  man, 
was,  ex  Jiypothesi,  deficient  in  those  mental  capacities 
which  now  distinguish  the  lowest  of  the  human  race. 
To  exist  at  all,  this  creature  must  have  been  more  animal 
in  its  structure ;  it  must  have  had  bodily  powers  and 
organs  more  like  those  of  the  beasts.  The  continual 
improvement  and  perfection  of  these  would  be  the  direc- 
tion of  variation  most  favorable  to  the  continuation  of 
the  species.  These  would  not  be  modified  in  the  di- 
rection of  greater  weakness  without  inevitable  destruc- 
tion, until  first,  by  the  gift  of  reason  and  of  mental 
capacities  of  contrivance,  there  had  been  established  an 
adequate  preparation  for  the  change.  The  loss  of  speed 
or  of  climbing  power  which  is  involved  in  the  fore-arms 
becoming  useless  for  locomotion,  could  not  be  incurred 
with  safety  until  the  brain  was  ready  to  direct  a  hand. 
The  foot  could  not  be  allowed  to  part  with  its  prone  or 
prehensile  character,  until  the  powers  of  reason  and  re- 
flection had  been  provided  to  justify,  as  it  now  explains, 
the  erect  position  and  the  upward  gaze.  And  so  through 
all  the  innumerable  modifications  of  form  which  are  the 
peculiarities  of  man,  and  which  stand  in  indissoluble 
union  with  his  capacities  of  thought.  The  lowest  degree 
of  intelligence  which  is  now  possessed  by  the  lowest 


n8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

savage,  is  not  more  than  enough  to  compensate  him  for 
the  weakness  of  his  frame,  or  to  enable  him  to  maintain 
successfully  the  struggle  for  existence."* 

In  the  light  of  this  forcibly  expressed  argument 
against  Sir  John  Lubbock's  theory  of  the  descent  of  the 
human  race,  we  are  led  to  infer  that  his  grace  means  his 
explanation  of  our  first  parents  being  "  born,"  and  not 
made,  to  imply  that  in  this  way  two  beings  were  formed 
with  such  strength  of  body  and  endowment  of  mind,  at  the 
very  outset,  as  to  be  independent  of  the  difficulties  by 
which  such  a  creature  as  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  ima- 
gined, must  have  been  beset.  If  that  is  his  grace's  view, 
it  is  not  only  plausible,  we  admit,  but  possible,  in  so  far 
as  the  examination  of  the  narrative  in  relation  to  Adam 
is  involved — "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground ;"  but  the  narrative  of  Eve's  creation 
cannot  be  brought  within  its  compass  without  violence 
to  the  principles  of  legitimate  interpretation :  "  And  the 
Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam,  and 
he  slept :  and  he  took  one  of  his  ribs,  and  closed  up  the 
flesh  instead  thereof.  And  the  rib,  which  the  Lord  God 
had  taken  from  man,  made  he  a  woman,  and  brought  her 
unto  the  man.  And  Adam  said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my 
bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  :  she  shall  be  called  Woman, 
because  she  was  taken  out  of  Man."     Gen.  2  :  21-23. 

We  cannot,  by  any  critical  process,  rid  this  statement 
of  the  supernatural ;  nor  have  we  the  means  of  abso- 
lutely determining  the  exact  limits  of  what  is  figurative 
and  what  is  literal.     The  process  is  hidden  ;  the  result  is 

*  "  Primeval  Man,"  pp.  65-68. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  119 

distinct.  Christians  whose  bias  of  thinking  is  decidedly- 
philosophical,  are  liable  to  be  perplexed  by  merely  rela- 
tive difficulties  ;  and  hence  their  apologetic  efforts  to 
minimize  the  supernatural  by  substituting  imaginary  con- 
ditions ;  as,  for  example,  an  already  organized  living  crea- 
ture, instead  of  the  dust,  as  the  elements  out  of  which 
God  formed  man.  In  the  dust  are  all  the  constituent 
elements  of  man's  body ;  and  the  relativity  of  the  mira- 
cle to  organized  dust  in  some  animal  frame,  or  to  dust  or 
earth  not  organized  nor  living,  is  of  comparatively  slight 
importance.  The  literal  narrative  is  devoid  even  of 
strangeness  to  those  who  see  in  all  creation  the  work  of 
God's  hand.  When  reason  is  baffled,  faith  in  the  Word 
is  the  Christian's  guide.  The  connection  of  the  created 
with  the  will  of  the  Creator,  is  utterly  beyond  our  cogni- 
zance ;  so  worlds  taking  their  place  in  space — life  begin- 
ning to  throb  in  a  germ — Adam  and  Eve  formed,  the  one 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  the  other  out  of  that  dust 
organized  and  living — are  equally  baffling  to  reason,  but 
equally  acceptable  to  faith.  "  Through  faith  %ve  under- 
stand that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God, 
so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  do  appear."  WThile  faith  does  not  specially  con- 
cern itself  with  one  process  or  mode  more  than  another, 
and  retains  only  the  facts  revealed,  we  may  freely  concede 
to  Christian  expositors  the  liberty  which  they  claim  in 
giving  to  the  phrase,  "  the  dust  of  the  ground,"  the  widest 
sense  consistent  with  the  idea  of  man's  having  an  earthly 
as  well  as  a  heavenly  origin  ;*  but  we  must  question 

*  "Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  211. 


120  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

every  supposition  which  increases  rather  than  lessens 
difficulties  in  the  fair  reading  of  the  Scripture  narrative. 
We  see  no  warrant  from  either  science,  philosophy,  or 
theology,  for  the  well-meant  attempt  of  his  grace  to  re- 
duce the  Scripture  narrative  to  a  level  on  which  the 
"  natural  "  might  more  nearly  approach  the  supernatural, 
ind  facilitate  the  acceptance  of  an  absolute  Reign  of 
Law. 

3.  The  theory  of  mans  natural  development,  by  denying 
the  interposition  of  the  Divine  power  at  the  time  and  in 
the  way  stated  in  the  Bible,  is  influencing  multitudes, 
and  we  cannot  escape  the  conflict  of  opinion  which  it  is 
creating.  What  we  have  to  do,  therefore,  is  to  ascertain 
whether  the  facts  adduced  really  discredit  or  confirm  the 
Bible. 

The  various  modifications  of  this  theory  which  have 
been  advocated  from  time  to  time,  we  need  not  wait  to 
discuss.  It  is  enough  to  consider  the  form  in  which  it 
has  been  most  recently  expounded  by  Mr.  Darwin  and 
others.  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  assumes  that  animals  have 
descended,  at  most,  from  only  four  or  five  progenitors, 
and  plants  from  an  equal  or  lesser  number  ;  but  analogy 
would  lead  him  farther,  namely,  to  some  one  prototype. 
Accordingly,  he  infers  that  probably  all  the  organic  be- 
ings which  have  ever  lived  on  this  earth  have  descended 
from  some  one  form  into  which  life  was  first  breathed 
by  the  Creator:  "There  is  grandeur  in  this  view  of  life, 
with  its  several  powers,  having  been  originally  breathed 
by  the  Creator  into  a  few  forms,  or  into  one."*     And  all 

*  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  570;  fifth  edition,  1S69. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  121 

the  changes  which  have  ever  been  educed  are  due,  he 
tells  us,  to  Natural  Selection,  a  force  which,  in  the  histo- 
ry of  life,  we  are  to  regard  as  having  wrought  all  those 
wonders  which  we  have  hitherto  connected  with  Intel- 
ligence and  Purpose.  With  natural  selection  for  the 
basis  of  his  theory,  Mr.  Darwin  has  no  further  difficulty 
as  to  the  intensity  and  comprehensiveness  of  its  applica- 
tions. It  accounts  for  everything  connected  with  life 
and  its  manifestations.  While  apparently  undecided 
as  to  the  origin  of  life,  he  is  most  explicit  as  to  the  func- 
tions of  natural  selection,  in  steadfastly  ruling  the  mani- 
fold and  ceaseless  struggles  for  existence. 

That  his  theory  has  been  supported  by  a  remarkably 
full  and  ingenious  combination  of  facts,  and  that  it  has 
commended  itself  to  many  accomplished  naturalists,  can- 
not be  disputed  ;  and  yet  there  are  in  it  so  many  serious 
defects  and  breaks,  that  it  is  astonishing  to  us  to  find  any 
one  accepting  it  who  requires  even  ordinarily  coimected 
proof. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that,  without  the  slightest 
reference  to  any  definite  end  whatever,  sponges,  mol- 
lusks,  frogs,  fishes,  monkeys,  men,  and  all  other  living 
things  have,  in  the  turmoil  of  ages,  been  assigned,  by 
natural  selection  alone,  all  their  varied  proportions  and 
spheres. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe,  against  all  the  evidence 
which  confronts  us,  that  there  is  no  design  whatever  in 
the  manifold  structure  of  plants  and  animals  ;  and  none 
in  those  bodies  of  ours,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made. 

11 


122  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  varied  relations 
of  all  the  colors  in  nature  are  but  the  result  of  mechani- 
cal and  chemical  combinations,  framed  by  natural  selec- 
tion ;  that  the  blue  of  the  sky,  the  green  of  the  landscape, 
and  the  neutral  tint  of  nature's- background,  are  without 
a  purpose  ;  that  the  splendor  of  the  heavens  by  night, 
and  the  music  of  the  grove  as  birds  warble  their  song 
by  day,  were  never  intended  to  give  pleasure,  or  to  con- 
duce to  the  happiness  of  any  human  being.  All  these 
facts  are  mere  sequences  under  the  sway  of  natural  se- 
lection, which  of  itself  understands  nothing  and  foresees 
nothing.  God,  we  are  told  in  Holy  Writ,  "  hath  made 
everything  beautiful  in  his  time."  Ecclesiastes  3:11. 
But  this  theory  denies  the  intentional  goodness  that  has 
enrobed  the  world  with  that  surpassing  loveliness  on  which 
every  eye  delights  to  rest.  In  making  these  statements, 
we  do  Mr.  Darwin  no  wrong.  He  has  firmly  refused  to 
recognize  beauty  as  an  end  in  the  history  of  the  globe, 
and  goes  so  far  as  to  state  that  the  admission  would 
be  destructive  of  his  theory  ;  even  to  admit  variety  as  an 
end  would  be  fatal  to  it.  Be  it  so  ;  the  theory  is,  in  this 
respect,  opposed  not  only  to  the  Bible  teachings,  but 
to  our  intuitions,  our  experience,  and  our  common  sense. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  skill  which  the 
bee  shows  in  the  structure  of  its  cell,  the  ingenuity  of 
the  spider  in  constructing  its  web,  the  mechanical  fitness 
in  the  economy  of  bird-life  and  the  ease  with  which  flight 
is  conducted,  the  graceful  movements  of  fishes  in  the 
deep  and  the  rapidity  with  which  some  can  change  their 
color,  are  all  nothing  more  than  the  mechanical  sequen- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  123 

ces  of  a  series  of  facts  ;  in  a  word,  they  are  tne  mere  un- 
intentional results  of  some  blind  force,  controlled  by  an 
unintelligent  if  not  indeed  unintelligible  power,  which, 
after  incalculable  efforts  and  failures,  finds  something 
which  it  leaves  in  a  permanent  state,  but  of  course,  with- 
out the  remotest  reference  to  that  permanent  state  as  an 
end. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  the  structure  of  an- 
imals, their  habits,  and  their  relations  to  climate  and 
soil  ;  that  the  exquisitely  delicate  formation  of  the  eye 
and  its  relation  to  light  and  color;  and  that  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  ear  to  the  almost  endless  variety  of  sounds  ; 
are  meaningless  results. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  been  evolved, 
not  in  conformity  with  any  purpose,  but  merely  amid  the 
sequences  of  events,  by  insensible  degrees,  and  after  in- 
numerable experiments  and  failures. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  been  in 
every  creature,  in  every  stage,  from  the  primordial  sea- 
weed to  the  mollusk,  from  the  lowest  mollusk  to  the  ser- 
pent, from  the  serpent  to  the  monkey,  and  from  the  mon- 
key to  the  highest  ape. 

It  requires  of  us  to  believe  that  man  has  travelled  a 
long  and  aimless  journey,  and  at  last  not  only  enjoys  the 
highest  bodily  organization,  but  has  intellect,  imagina- 
tion, will,  conscience,  ennobling  aspirations  after  a  higher 
state  and  a  happier  home,  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  an  estimate  of  virtue  and  vice  ;  and  to  rest  assured 
that  all  these  have  turned  up  without  design,  in  desul- 
tory flashes,  or  in  some  other  way  from  molecular  action, 


i24  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

cerebral  impulses,  or  other  mysterious  agencies.  There 
is  no  other  origin  admissible  ;  it  must  be  accepted  or  re- 
jected. "  We  must  therefore  place  virtue,  in  this  theory, 
precisely  on  the  same  footing  with  every  other  attribute 
of  every  other  animal,  and  account  for  its  existence  in 
the  same  way ;  that  is,  we  must  say  that  when  the  first 
virtuous  men,  or  men  with  a  capacity  to  appreciate  vir- 
tue, were  accidentally  elaborated,  it  gave  them  a  decided 
advantage  over  all  then  congeners  who  did  not  share 
with  them  in  the  new  quality,  -wid  sa  enabled  them  to 
keep  their  place  in  the  struggle  for  liie,  while  their 
competitors  were  exterminated  by  that  rigorous  law 
which  knows  no  exception.  In  one  word,  fae  men  en- 
dowed with  virtue  exterminated  all  those  wi  o  lacked 
that  endowment. 

"  If  this  should  be  a  startling  history  of  the  origin  of 
moral  excellence,  and  if  it  should  be  contradicted  by  all 
the  records  of  our  race,  we  must  nevertheless  believe that  it 
was  so  ;  for  the  theory  imperatively  demands  it,  ana  can- 
not subsist  without  the  supposition."* 

What  evidence  have  we  for  so  sweeping  a  theoiy? 
We  admit,  of  course,  that  there  is  gradation  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  forms  of  both  animal  and  plant 
life,  and  that  identity  of  plan  appears  in  the  structure  of 
all  the  vertebrated  animals.  The  question  is,  Are  they 
all  related  by  descent  ?  If  they  are,  as  Mr.  Darwin  sup- 
poses, there  must  be  abundant  traces  of  imperfect,  half- 
formed,  and  mutilated  creatures  cast  down  in  the  keen 
struggle  of  life,  and  preserved  for  our  instructions  in  the 

*  "Darwinian  Theory  Examined,"  pp.  337,  338. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  125 

stone-volume.  The  test  is  quite  simple,  it  is  the  sug- 
gestion of  common  sense :  Are  the  resolute  assertions  of 
this  theory  adequately  supported  by  facts  ?  Have  the 
links  which  connect  the  races  been  discovered  ?  Have 
the  wrecks  of  countless  experiments  been  found  strewn 
over  the  old  surfaces,  and  embedded  in  them  ?  The  pre- 
ceding lower  and  the  succeeding  higher  organizations 
have  been  found,  where  are  the  intermediate  and  the  im- 
mature beings  ?  Their  presence,  as  witnesses,  is  indis- 
pensable. Where  is  there  evidence  on  earth,  now,  of  the 
pigeon  passing  into  the  crow  or  of  the  wading  bird  into 
the  hawk,  of  the  horse  into  the  cow  or  of  the  dog  into 
the  cat,  or  vice  versa?  Granting  that  the  section  of 
time  in  which  we  live  has  behind  it  all  the  millions  of 
years  which  Darwin's  theory  demands,  we  should  surely 
find  within  it  some  such  results  as  he  leads  us  to  antici- 
pate. But  it  is  not  so,  the  links  are  wanting  ;  and  Mr. 
Darwin,  in  acknowledging  this  blank,  admits  that  his 
theory  is  as  yet  proofless.  He  shrouds  the  origin  of  life, 
as  to  its  cause,  and  its  early  development  of  forms,  in 
impenetrable  mystery.  He  hesitates  about  the  Deity 
in  the  one,  and  draws  the  veil  of  millions  of  years  over 
the  other.  Theories  are  safe  practice  amid  vagueness 
like  that.  But  is  his  demand  of  millions  of  years  before 
the  Silurian  system,  with  its  glimpses  of  life,  admissible  ? 
It  is  boldly  made.  "  If  my  theory  be  true,"  he  says,  "  it 
is  indisputable  that  before  the  lower  Silurian  stratum  was 
deposited,  long  periods  elapsed,  as  long  as,  or  probably 
far  longer,  than  the  whole  interval  from  the  Silurian  age 
to  the  present  day  ;  and  during  these  vast,  yet  quite  un- 

11*  " 


i26  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

known  periods  of  time,  the  world  swarmed  with  living 
creatures."  He  has  looked  long  into  these  depths  of  the 
past,  yet  no  witnesses  have  come  to  his  aid.  The  silence  has 
been  unbroken,  and  he  confesses  it.  "  To  the  question 
why  we  do  not  find  records  of  these  vast  primordial  peri- 
ods," he  replies,  "  I  can  give  no  answer,  the  difficulty  of 
understanding  the  absence  of  vast  piles  of  fossiliferous 
strata,  which  on  my  theory  no  doubt  were  somewhere  ac- 
cumulated before  the  Silurian  epoch,  is  very  great.  The 
case,  at  present,  must  remain  inexplicable,  and  may  be 
truly  urged  as  a  valid  argument  against  the  views  here 
entertained."  The  modesty  of  this  admission  renders 
adverse  criticism  unpleasant.  But  without  dwelling  on 
the  absence  of  facts,  we  may  press  the  necessity  on  such 
theorists  of  having  some  regard  to  geological  time.  For- 
tunately, the  question  is  finding  ardent  students,  and  in- 
vestigations as  to  the  cooling  of  the  globe,  and  other 
relations  in  its  physical  condition,  are  putting  an  end 
to  speculations  which  assume  many  millions  of  years  be- 
fore the  Silurian  era.  Theorists  like  Mr.  Darwin  err 
egregiously  in  not  inquiring  into  the  possibility  of  the 
earth's  crust  having,  millions  of  years  ago,  those  exact 
conditions  which  they  demand.  Palaeontologists  have 
too  often  found  it  convenient  to  take  refuge  amid  the 
mists  of  the  pasts,  when  definiteness  has  been  demanded  ; 
but  the  recent  investigations  of  Sir  William  Thomson,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  have  checked  this  thoughtless 
extension  of  indefinite  ages,  and  have  brought  them  to 
recognize  in  their  professedly  scientific  pursuits  the  ne- 
cessity of  greater  precision.     As  against  the  ages  pre- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  127 

ceding  the  Silurian  period,  there  is  proof  that  the  condi- 
tions of  the  globe  were  such  as  to  render  the  existence 
of  life  improbable,  if  not  impossible. 

But  taking  the  geological  strata  which  teem  with  fos- 
sils, we  demand  proof  of  gradual  descent  by  natural 
selection  ;  and  Mr.  Darwin  does  not  and  cannot  give  it. 
He  pleads  in  excuse  the  incompleteness  of  the  geologi- 
cal volume  ;  it  "is  a  history  of  the  world,"  he  says,  "im- 
perfectly kept,  and  written  in  a  changing  dialect.  Of  this 
history,  we  possess  the  last  volume,  relating  only  to  two 
or  three  centuries.  Of  this  volume,  only  here  and  there  a 
short  chapter  has  been  preserved  ;  and  of  each  page,  only 
here  and  there  a  few  lines.  On  this  view,  the  difficulties 
above  discussed  are  greatly  diminished  or  disappear." 

We  cannot  accept  this  apology.  The  most  delicate 
structures  have  been  preserved  in  the  stone-volume  ;  and 
why  not,  at  least,  some  of  those  huge  intermediate,  im- 
mature, or  imperfectly-developed  animals  which  must 
have  lived  and  perished  under  the  sway  of  natural  selec- 
tion ?  Mr.  Darwin  does  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  the 
number  of  the  perished  links  has  been  vast :  "  The  num- 
ber of  intermediate  and  transitional  links  between  all 
living  and  extinct  species  must  have  been  inconceivably 
great.  But,  assuredly,  if  this  theory  be  true,  such  have 
lived  upon  the  earth."*  If  so,  where  are  they  ?  How 
have  they  disappeared  ?  Has  natural  selection  been 
busy,  also,  with  the  materials  that  should  be  saved  as 
witnesses  of  the  past,  ranging  from  before  the  Silurian 
period  till  now  ? 

*  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  348. 


i2S  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

But  granting  the  imperfection  of  the  geological  vol- 
ume ;  granting,  indeed,  for  argument's  sake,  all  that  Mr. 
Darwin  demands,  what  of  the  diffused  life  in  the  present 
period,  with  its  almost  endless  diversity  of  form  ?  The 
results  of  the  past  are  before  us  in  the  living  of  every 
climate.  In  every  condition,  life-forms  are  subject  to 
to  the  tests  of  the  anatomist,  the  physiologist,  the  chem- 
ist, and  the  metaphysician.  The  page  is  wide  as  the 
world,  and  every  character  is  distinct.  If  therefore,  the 
theory  has  in  it  any  elements  of  truth,  they  should  appear 
in  animals,  the  living  representatives  of  at  least  some  of 
those  transitions  which  may  not  have  been  preserved  in 
bygone  ages,  or  which,  if  preserved,  have  not  yet  been 
discovered.  Surely,  creatures  at  the  various  intermedi- 
ate stages  of  blind  experimenting  should  be  turning 
up  now  and  again ;  for  the  struggles  of  life  are  con- 
tinued, and  natural  selection  is  still  supreme.  That  no 
such  facts  are  forthcoming  as  the  interests  of  truth  and 
the  ordinary  principles  of  inductive  reasoning  demand, 
should  modify  the  enthusiasm  of  theorists,  and  warrant 
the  rejection  of  their  dreams. 

No  one  pretends  that  the  intermediate  or  immature 
links  are  discoverable  in  existing  races.  They  are  sep- 
arated by  apparently  insuperable  barriers  to  descent.  Ar- 
rest is  laid  visibly  on  community  of  species.  What  is 
inexplicable  in  the  past  is  equally  inexplicable  in  the 
present.  It  is  quite  true  that,  in  Mr.  Darwin's  theory, 
"  the  same  number  of  vertebras  forming  the  neck  of  the 
giraffe  and  the  elephant,  at  once  explains  itself  on  the 
theory   of  descent  with  slow  and  successive  modifka- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  129 

tions  ;"  but  is  it  not  equally  true  that,  on  the  same 
theory,  creatures  should  be  discovered  budding  into  the 
giraffe  or  into  the  elephant,  and  that  transitional  links 
should  be  found  between  the  ox  and  the  mule,  or  between 
the  dove  and  the  hawk,  with  the  nature  and  habits  in 
part  of  each,  and  between  all  other  species,  also,  that 
are  distinct  ?  Why  are  there  not  incipient  men  and  in- 
cipient women,  half  man  and  half  lower  animal,  or  two 
thirds  woman  and  one-third  inferior  animal  ?  Why  are 
there  no  projections  now  of  new  and  advancing  structures 
to  be  kept  and  improved  on  ? 

The  theory,  however,  is  not  without  its  hopes.  It 
cherishes  bright  prospects.  A  prophetic  spirit  shapes 
its  future.  If  natural  selection  has  done  so  much  from 
the  first  spore  of  life,  what  may  it  not  accomplish  in  fu- 
ture ages  with  such  a  platform  as  the  highly-organized 
beings  of  the  present  time  ?  The  theory  necessitates  the 
incoming  of  higher  structures  than  man's.  Mr.  Darwin 
admits  this,  and  forecasts  it  when  he  says,  "The  ultimate 
result  will  be  that  each  creature  will  tend  to  become 
more  and  more  improved  in  relation  to  its  conditions  of 
life.  This  improvement  will,  I  think,  inevitably  lead  to 
the  gradual  advancement  of  the  organization  of  the  greater 
number  of  human  beings  throughout  the  zvorld.  But  here 
we  enter  on  a  very  intricate  subject  ;  for  naturalists  have 
not  defined  to  each  other's  satisfaction  what  is  meant  by 
advance  in  organization.  Among  the  vertebrates,  the  de- 
gree of  intellect  and  an  approach  in  structure  to  man, 
clearly  come  into  play."*     Man  is,  as  yet,  the   most  ad- 

*  "Origin  of  Species,"  p.  131. 


i3o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

vanced  in  organization  ;  intellect  has  come  into  play,  but 
nature  is  not  exhausted.  Life  is  on  an  upward  path  ; 
and  if  this  theory  be  true,  surely,  as  intellect  has  come 
out  of  non-intellect,  or  a  physical  combination,  what  shall 
be  the  ultimate  product  of  intellect,  and  which  of  them 
shall  natural  selection  preserve  ?  Without  wasting  time 
on  conjecture,  we  may  ask  whether  perfection  shall  be 
reached  by  a  mollusk  before  it  has  come  to  the  human 
platform?  Is  "gradual  advancement"  to  carry  all  life- 
structures  onward  to  the  organized  condition  which  man 
has  reached,  and  shall  distinctions  cease  ?  If  this  gen- 
eral improvement  should  ever  take  place,  when  every 
creature  will  thus  be  advanced  to  the  limits  of  perfecti- 
bility, there  will  be  no  more  natural  selection  ;  for  she 
will  have  done  her  work,  and,  consequently,  there  will  be 
no  more  struggles  for  life.  Creatures  will  not  be  waging 
battle  within  battle  ;  in  fact,  all  the  destroyers  will  dis- 
appear, and  they  will  be  transformed  into  some  superior 
position  "  by  an  advancement  of  the  brain  for  intellectual 
purposes  ;  and  even  the  intestine  worm  will  perhaps  be 
in  a  fair  way  to  study  logic  and  propound  theories."* 

The  theory  begins  in  mystery,  and  ends  in  it.  It 
dreams  of  a  beginning  untold  ages  ago,  it  dreams  of  a 
kind  of  perfection  untold  ages  hence,  and  places  midway 
a  beautiful  exposition  of  many  facts  which  yet  leave  the 
theory  proofless. 

But,  in  conclusion,  the  theorists  are  at  war  with  one 
another.  As  Ishmaelites,  their  hand  is  against  every 
man.  Each  is  a  law  to  himself  in  theorizing.  Their 
*  "Darwinian  Theory  Examined,"  p.  157. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  131 

contendings  may  well  teach  us  caution.  Lamarck  set 
those  right  who  preceded  him.  The  author  of  The  Ves- 
tiges of  Creation  outstripped  Lamarck  ;  and  Mr.  Darwin 
sets  both  aside,  while  he  in  turn  has  been  severely  cen- 
sured by  M.  Tremaux,  and  has  all  his  reasoning  contro- 
verted in  favor  of  the  new  theory.  Lamarck  believed  in 
spontaneous  generation,  Darwin  does  not.  The  author 
of  The  Vestiges  expounded  a  law  of  development,  and 
Mr.  Darwin  displaces  it  by  natural  selection.  M.  Tre- 
maux has  repudiated  the  origin  which  Mr.  Darwin  has 
assumed,  and  insists  on  our  believing  that  not  water,  but 
the  soil,  is  the  origin  of  all  life,  and  therefore  of  man. 
With  him  there  is  no  progress  ;  all  creatures  have  reached 
their  resting-place.  But  man  rises  or  sinks  according  to 
the  more  recent  or  ancient  soil  he  dwells  on.  Professor 
Huxley  is  unwilling  to  abandon  his  idea  that  life  may 
come  from  dead  matter,  and  is  not  disposed  to  accept  of 
Mr.  Darwin's  explanation  of  the  origin  of  life  by  the 
Creator  having,  at  first,  breathed  it  into  one  or  more 
forms.  While  accepting  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  of  a  com- 
mon descent  for  man  with  all  other  creatures,  he  not 
only  differs  from  him  as  to  the  beginning,  but  he  admits 
that  there  is  no  gradual  transition  from  the  one  to  the 
other.  He  acknowledges  that  "  the  structural  differences 
between  man  and  even  the  highest  apes,  are  great  and 
significant ;"  and  yet,  because  there  is  no  sign  of  gradual 
transition  "  between  the  gorilla  and  the  orang,  or  the 
orang  and  the  gibbon,"  he  infers  that  they  all  had  a  com- 
mon origin ;  whereas,  the  more  natural  conclusion  from 
the  facts  would  be,  that  they  had  separate  beginnings. 


i32  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Mr.  Wallace,  whose  claims  are  admitted  to  be  equal 
to  those  of  Mr.  Darwin  as  the  propounder  of  the  theory 
of  the  origin  of  species  and  as  to  the  powers  expressed 
by  natural  selection,  has  firmly  asserted  that,  with  all 
its  resources,  natural  selection  is  utterly  inadequate  to 
account  for  the  origin  and  structure  of  the  human  race. 
"  A  superior  intelligence  has  guided  that  development  in 
a  definite  direction  and  for  a  special  purpose."  It  is  in- 
teresting to  observe  how  completely  these  two  great  nat- 
uralists differ  from  one  another.  Mr.  Wallace  argues 
against  natural  selection  as  sufficient  to  explain  the 
greatness  of  man's  brain  in  even  the  lowest  savages,  who 
have  little  more  use  for  it  than  the  lower  animals  around 
them,  whose  brain  is  greatly  inferior.  These  savages,  in 
having  a  brain  little  inferior  to  that  of  the  highest  type 
of  man,  possess  that  which  is  comparatively  of  so  little 
use  to  them,  that  it  could  not  have  been  obtained  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  "  They  possess,"  he  says,  "  a 
mental  organ  beyond  their  needs.  Natural  selection 
could  only  have  endowed  savage  man  with  a  brain  a  little 
superior  to  that  of  an  ape ;  whereas,  he  actually  possesses 
one  very  little  inferior  to  that  of  a  philosopher."  Mr. 
Wallace  also  specifies  other  facts  in  the  natural  history 
of  man,  for  which  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  utterly  fails  to 
account.  In  the  structure  of  the  hands  and  feet,  in  that 
also  of  the  larynx,  giving  the  power  of  speech  and  espe- 
cially of  musical  sounds,  he  finds  evidence  of  the  inade- 
quacy of  natural  selection.  His  references  to  the  human 
body  are  so  pointed,  that  their  effect  cannot  be  slighted 
by  unprejudiced  inquirers:  "The  soft,  naked,  sensitive 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  133 

skin  of  man,  entirely  free  from  the  hairy  covering  which 
is  so  universal  among  other  mammalia,  cannot  be  ex- 
plained on  the  theory  of  natural  selection.  The  habits 
of  savages  show  that  they  feel  the  want  of  this  covering, 
which  is  most  completely  absent  in  man  exactly  where  it 
is  thickest  in  other  animals.  We  have  no  reason  what- 
ever to  believe  that  it  would  have  been  hurtful  or  even 
useless  to  primitive  man ;  and  under  these  circumstances, 
its  complete  abolition,  shown  by  its  never  reverting  in 
mixed  breeds,  is  a  demonstration  of  the  agency  of  some 
other  power  than  a  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  in 
the  development  of  man  from  the  lower  animals."*  Mr. 
Wallace's  discussion  of  "  The  Limits  of  Natural  Selec- 
tion, as  Applied  to  Man,"  is  not  only  interesting  in  itself, 
but  is  instructive,  as  showing  us  how  little  is  gained  by 
abandoning  the  simple  teaching  of  Scripture  for  the  elab- 
orate and  conflicting  theories  of  our  ablest  and  most  ac- 
complished naturalists. 

*"The  Limits  of  Natural  Selection,  as  applied  to  Man,"  by  A.  R. 
Wallace,  pp.  355,  356. 


12 


i34  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

HAVE  THERE  BEEN  MORE  ORIGINS  THAN  ONE  FOR  THE  HU- 
MAN RACE? THE  BIBLE  DOCTRINE  IN  RELATION  TO 

RECENT  THEORIES. 

As  we  go  westward,  we  observe  the  light  color  predominate  over  the 
dark ;  and  then  again,  when  we  come  within  the  influence  of  damp  from 
the  sea  air,  we  see  the  shade  deepen  into  the  general  blackness  of  the 
coast  population. — dr.  Livingstone. 

It  is  more  than  two  hundred  years  (1655)  since  La 
Peyrere,  basing  his  reasoning  on  the  Scriptures,  argued 
in  favor  of  a  plurality  of  origins  for  the  human  family. 
Taking  the  history  of  Cain  for  his  guide,  Gen.  4:16,  17, 
he  maintained  that  there  was  a  Non-Adamite  race,  the 
ancestors  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  that  the  Jews  alone,  of 
whose  origin  and  history  the  Bible  treats,  were  the  de- 
scendants of  Adam.  La  Peyrere  was  a  theologian  who 
vindicated  as  true  all  that  is  in  the  Bible ;  "  and  exhibit- 
ed in  his  work,"  says  Ouatrefages,  "  a  mixture  of  com- 
plete faith  and  free  criticism ;"  but  he  found,  in  that  age, 
no  listeners.  After  his  time  there  was  a  long  silence, 
though  possibly  much  thought  on  the  subject,  until  Vol- 
taire and  Rousseau,  seizing  La  Peyrere's  arguments, 
wielded  them  against  the  Scriptures  with  the  command- 
ing brilliancy  of  their  genius.  The  contest  was  soon 
transferred  to  the  United  States  of  America,  where  the 
reasoning  of  the  French  Encyclopaedists  was  reproduced 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  135 

with  all  that  intensity  of  feeling  and  that  variety  of  re- 
source which  the  interests  of  the  slavery  question  crea- 
ted. The  Christianity  and  scholarship  of  America  gave 
to  the  discussion  a  magnitude  and  influence  which  could 
not  have  been  secured  for  it  by  the  infidelity  of  France. 
Theologians  became,  unintentionally,  earnest  coadjutors 
with  infidels  and  skeptics  in  the  effort  to  establish  a  sepa- 
rate origin  for  the  negro  race.  The  question  has  of  late 
lost  much  of  its  interest ;  because,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
gigantic  system  of  slavery  in  America  has  collapsed,  and 
because,  on  the  other,  the  most  commonly  accepted  theo- 
ries as  to  development  and  evolution  include,  in  their 
basis,  unity  of  origin  or  race.  It  may  be  of  some  advan- 
tage, however,  to  review  briefly  the  present  aspects  of  the 
question. 

I.    THE  BIBLE  DOCTRINE. 

The  Bible  doctrine  is  distinctly  stated.  In  the  geo- 
logic fulness  of  time  God  "  created  man,  male  and  fe- 
male ;"  "  Adam  called  his  wife's  name  Eve,  because  she 
was  the  mother  of  all  living."  In  the  New  Testament, 
unity  of  origin  is  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  himself.  He 
reaffirms  the  Old  Testament  doctrine.  Adam  had  said 
of  Eve,  "  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh :  she  shall  be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken 
out  of  Man.  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife  ;  and  they  shall 
be  one  flesh."  And  Jesus,  the  second  Adam,  asserting 
the  same  truth,  bound  the  Old  to  the  New  Testament, 
when  he  said :  "  But  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation 


136  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

God  made  them  male  and  female.  For  this  cause  shall 
a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  cleave  to  his 
wife."  Mark  10:6,  7.  He  abolished  distinctions  by  his 
command,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature."  Mark  16:15.  "Wherefore,  as 
by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin  ; 
and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sin- 
ned :"  Rom.  5:12;  God  "commandeth  all  men  every- 
where to  repent."  Acts  17:30.  The  apostle  Paul,  in 
the  centre  of  Athens,  in  the  midst  of  matchless  monu- 
ments of  human  skill,  and  confronting  the  learning  and 
the  pride  which  exalted  the  Athenian  above  every  race 
in  the  world,  boldly  proclaimed  to  them  the  distasteful 
truth,  that  "  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  Acts 
17 :  26. 

While  these  direct  statements  are  accepted  by  Agassiz, 
and  many  others  who  hold  fast  and  defend  the  Scriptures, 
they  regard  them  as  expressing  only  what  is  applicable 
to  the  Jewish  and  Caucasian  race  ;  and  they,  at  the  same 
time,  insist  that  God  created  other  races  in  separate 
zoological  provinces.  Strangely  enough,  while  they  ad- 
vocate diversity  of  origin,  they  no  less  earnestly  advocate 
unity  of  species;  and  thus  they  satisfy,  as  they  suppose, 
the  declaration  of  the  apos.tle,  that  "  all  are  of  one  blood." 
The  facts  on  which  different  theories  have  been  framed 
are  so  numerous  and  so  varied,  that  they  would  require 
the  fullest  examination,  were  it  not  that  the  controversy 
has  of  late  changed  its  character.  The  past  has  its 
series  of  testimonies  in  the  skulls  of  long-buried  races 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  13  7 

and  the  present  makes  its  evidence  commensurate  with 
the  inhabitants  of  the  world. 

Omitting,  in  the  meantime,  the  first,  let  us  note  some 
of  the  facts  in  the  second  series.  The  world  is  its  basis  ; 
the  human  race  is  the  subject.  There  is  not  a  continent 
which  the  merchant  or  the  missionary  has  not  traversed  ; 
not  a  hill-tribe  has  been  left  unnoted,  nor  an  island  un- 
explored. Vast  groups  attract  attention,  and  subordinate 
varieties  intensify  the  interest.  There  are  universally- 
accepted  race  distinctions — as  in  the  Caucasian,  with  his 
fair  skin,  dark  and  curling  or  flowing  hair,  and  ample 
brow ;  in  the  Mongolian,  with  his  receding  forehead, 
obliquely-set  eyes,  projecting  chin,  thin  long  black  hair, 
and  sallow  skin  fitting  tightly  like  parchment  to  the 
cheek-bone ;  in  the  Ethiopian  or  Negro,  with  dark  skin, 
woolly  hair,  prominent  cheek-bones,  and  thick  lips ;  in 
the  Malay,  with  his  reddish-brown  color,  lank  black  hair, 
square  skull,  and  low  forehead ;  and  in  the  American, 
with  his  brown  complexion,  sunken  eye,  and  swollen 
cheek-bone.  Minuter  peculiarities  are  recognizable — 
from  the  Patagonian,  with  his  commanding  figure,  in  the 
southern  projection  of  one  continent,  America,  to  the 
Bosjesman,  with  his  shrunken  and  shrivelled  frame,  in 
the  southern  projection  of  another  continent,  Africa ; 
from  the  diminutive  Esquimaux,  seated  in  his  ice-built 
home — his  crystal  palace,  with  its  door  of  snow — or  set- 
ting out  in  eager  hunting  or  fishing  enterprise  in  a  tem- 
perature cold  enough  to  make  mercury  freeze — to  the 
Indian  in  the  steaming  jungle  of  the  Carnatic,  or  the 
African  lounging  in  the  shade  of  rock  or  sallying  forth 

12* 


1 38  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

with  light  step  in  easy  enjoyment  of  an  atmosphere  hot 
enough  to  make  ether  boil.  We  see  man  subsisting  on 
every  form  of  food — from  the  cooling  fruits  which  the 
tropics  provide  for  the  savage,  to  the  scant  shell-fish  of 
southern  and  the  coarse  oil  of  northern  tribes ;  and  we 
see  every  mode  of  life — from  the  huntsman,  penetrating 
the  forest  or  scouring  the  plain,  to  the  artisan  in  civil- 
ized communities,  toiling  dust-covered  and  scorched  with 
furnace-heat  amid  the  ceaseless  clank  of  machinery — and 
from  the  herdsman,  contemplatively  following  his  flocks 
or  watching  the  stars  on  which  Chaldean  Shepherds  loved 
long  ago  to  gaze,  to  the  philosopher,  apart  and  alone,  grap- 
pling with  profoundest  problems,  or  the  scientific  student, 
rejoicing  in  some  discovered  application  which  may  ben- 
efit thousands  of  his  fellow-men.  These  are  but  glimpses 
of  many  facts  which  every  one  acknowledges,  and  the 
question  to  be  determined  is,  Are  all  these  compatible 
with  descent  from  one  pair,  Adam  and  Eve ;  or  must  we 
infer  diversity  of  origin  in  zoological  centres  ? 

II.    THE  THEORY  OF  DIVERSITY  OF  ORIGIN. 

Skeptics  who  at  one  time  reasoned  in  favor  of  a  plu- 
ality  of  origins  in  opposition  to  the  Bible,  have  aban- 
doned their  theory,  and  adopted  as  its  substitute  devel- 
opment or  evolution  from  one  or  more  life-germs.  We 
have  therefore  to  do  only  with  those  who,  holding  the 
Bible  in  common  with  ourselves,  defend  diversity  of 
origin,  or  a  belief  in  several  centres  for  the  human 
family. 

"  The  circumstance,"  says  Agassiz,  "  that  wherever 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  139 

we  find  a  human  race  naturally  circumscribed,  it  is  con- 
nected in  its  limitation  with  what  we  call,  in  natural 
history,  a  zoological  and  botanical  province — that  is  to 
say,  with  a  natural  limitation  of  a  particular  association 
of  animals  and  plants — shows  most  unequivocally  the 
intimate  relation  existing  between  mankind  and  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  in  their  adaptation  to  the  physical  world. 
The  Arctic  race  of  men,  covering  the  treeless  region 
near  the  arctics,  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  America,  is  cir- 
cumscribed in  the  three  continents  within  limits  very 
similar  to  those  occupied  by  that  particular  combination 
of  animals  which  are  peculiar  to  the  same  tracts  of  land 
and  sea." 

"  The  region  inhabited  by  the  Mongolian  race  is  also 
a  zoological  province,  covered  by  a  combination  of  ani- 
mals naturally  circumscribed  within  the  same  regions. 
The  Malay  race  covers  also  a  natural  zoological  province. 
New  Holland  again  constitutes  a  very  peculiar  zoological 
province,  in  which  we  have  another  particular  race  of 
men.  And  it  is  further  remarkable  in  this  connection, 
that  the  plants  and  animals  now  living  on  the  continent 
of  Africa  south  of  the  Atlas,  within  the  same  range 
within  which  the  Negroes  are  naturally  circumscribed, 
have  a  character  differing  widely  from  that  of  the  plants 
and  animals  of  the  northern  shores  of  Africa  and  the 
valley  of  Egypt ;  while  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  within 
the  limits  inhabited  by  the  Hottentots,  is  characterized 
by  a  vegetation  and  a  fauna  equally  peculiar,  and  differ- 
ing in  its  features  from  that  over  which  the  African  race 
is  spread." 


i4o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

For  these  reasons,  Agassiz  infers  that  "  men  were 
primarily  located  in  the  various  parts  which  they  inhabit, 
and  that  they  arose  everywhere  in  those  harmonious 
numeric  proportions  with  other  living  beings,  which 
would  at  once  secure  their  preservation  and  contribute 
to  their  welfare.  To  suppose  that  all  men  originated 
from  Adam  and  Eve,  is  to  assume  that  the  order  of  crea- 
tion has  been  changed  in  the  course  of  historical  times, 
and  to  give  to  the  Mosaic  record  a  meaning  that  it  was 
never  intended  to  convey.  On  that  ground,  we  would 
particularly  insist  upon  the  propriety  of  considering 
Genesis  as  chiefly  relating  to  the  history  of  the  white 
race,  with  special  reference  to  the  history  of  the  Jews."* 

Professor  Agassiz  takes  especial  pains,  at  the  same 
time,  to  make  it  clear  that  he  regards  all  the  different 
races  not  only  as  constituting  a  common  brotherhood, 
but  as  morally  responsible  and  equally  related  to  the  di- 
vine government ;  yet  we  trust  it  will  appear  as  we  ad- 
vance, that  there  is  nothing  in  the  facts  or  circumstances 
to  which  he  refers,  incompatible  with  the  diffusion  of  the 
whole  family  of  man  from  a  common  centre. 

Proof  of  Diversity  of  Origin  considered. — The  chief 
reasons  which  are  urged  by  Agassiz  and  others  against 
acknowledging  descent  from  Adam  and  Eve,  and  in  proof 
of  more  origins  than  one,  are  I,  variety  of  color,  and  2, 
variety  of  bodily  conformation  ;  and  the  question  is,  Are 
these  varieties  compatible  with  the  common  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Scripture  record  ? 

i.  The  differences  in  color,  as  every  one  admits,  are 
*  "  Christian  Examiner,"  July,  1S50. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  141 

very  remarkable  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
there  are  forces  at  work  in  climate,  in  soil,  and  through 
other  agencies,  which  are,  as  yet,  mysterious  in  their  rela- 
tion to  human  physiology.  The  results  are  visible,  but 
the  processes  on  which  they  depend  are  concealed ;  and 
these  results  show  not  only  men,  but  some  of  the  lower 
animals,  so  completely  changing  their  color,  as  to  remove 
all  difficulty  regarding  the  blackness  of  the  Negro  or 
Ethiopic  race. 

Physiologists  hastily  assumed  that  in  the  negro  there 
was  a  singular  network  beneath  the  skin  which  was  the 
source  of  his  blackness,  and  they  made  this  their  warrant 
for  separating  him  specifically  from  the  white  race  ;  but 
more  accurate  microscopic  observation  has  proved  the 
existence  in  all  men  of  that  network — in  the  white  in  the 
temperate  zone,  as  well  as  in  the  black  in  the  torrid.  It 
is  in  man  everywhere,  and  is  susceptible  of  those  subtle 
influences  which  produce  different  degrees  of  color.  It 
contributes  to  man's  comfort,  and  fits  him  for  all  cli- 
mates. 

Those  Portuguese  who  have  been  long  settled  in 
Africa  and  the  East  Indies,  have  become  perfectly  black 
in  color ;  so,  also,  Greeks  and  Turks  are  changing  into 
the  dusky  and  sable. 

The  Jew,  whose  invariable  identity  is  everywhere  con- 
spicuous, and  who  is  everywhere  testifying  to  the  truth 
of  Scripture,  as  an  inhabitant  of  all  lands  yet  with  a 
resting-place  in  none,  represents  color  in  all  its  degrees. 
In  the'  plains  of  the  Ganges,  his  skin  is  jet  black  ;  in 
Syria,  he  is  of  a  dusky  hue ;  in  Poland,  his  hair  is  light 


i+2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

and  his  complexion  ruddy ;  on  the  Malabar  coast,  in  one 
colony — the  older — he  is  black,  in  the  other  colony — the 
younger — he  is  comparatively  fair.  "For  1800  years," 
says  one  whose  authority  none  will  dispute,  "  that  race 
[the  Jews]  has  been  dispersed  in  different  latitudes  and 
climates,  and  they  have  preserved  themselves  distinct 
from  intermixture  with  other  races  of  mankind.  There 
are  some  Jews  still  lingering  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan, 
who  have  been  oppressed  by  the  successive  conquerors 
of  Syria  for  ages — a  low  race  of  people — and  described 
by  trustworthy  travellers  as  being  black  as  any  of  the 
Ethiopic  races.  Others  of  the  Jewish  people,  participa- 
ting in  European  civilization  and  dwelling  in  the  north- 
ern nations,  show  instances  of  the  light  complexion,  the 
blue  eyes  and  fair  hair  of  the  Scandinavian  families.  The 
condition  of  the  Hebrews  since  their  dispersion  has  not 
been  such  as  to  admit  of  much  admixture  by  the  prose- 
lytism  of  household  slaves.  We  are  thus  led  to  account 
for  the  differences  in  color  by  the  influence-  of  climate,  with- 
out having  to  refer  them  to  original  or  specific  distinc- 
tions."* 

Nor  are  changes  in  color  limited  to  man.  Whatever 
may  be  the  process,  similar  results  appear  among  the 
lower  animals.  In  Guinea,  every  fowl  and  every  dog  be- 
comes, like  the  people,  black.  In  America,  the  pale  horse 
of  this  country  becomes  commonly  a  chestnut  brown. 
In  the  Romagna  Campagna,  the  ox  is  gray ;  in  other 
parts  of  Italy,  red.     Sheep  in  Italy  are  chiefly  black  ;  in 

*  Professor  Owen.     "Lecture  before  Cambridge  University,   1859,^ 
p.  96. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  143 

England,  chiefly  white.  Horses  in  Corsica  become  mot- 
tled, and  the  well-known  carriage  dog  shows  also  a  pe- 
culiar change. 

2.  Changes  in  physical  conformation  harmonize  with 
change  in  color.  Mr.  Reade,  in  his  work,  "  Savage 
Africa,"  when  writing  of  the  races  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
says  that  the  red  races  change  to  black  when  they  de- 
scend into  the  lowlands,  and  that,  while  some  years  ago 
it  was  rare  to  see  a  black  Fula  or  Puelh,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  see  any  other  than  blacks  without  passing  far 
into  the  interior.  Associated  with  the  Mandingos,  they 
are  driving  out  the  negroes,  and  taking  their  places  on 
the  river,  and  they  are  themselves  so  visibly  changing 
their  features  as  to  be  becoming  negroes.  To  change 
their  geographical  position,  is  to  change  their  features. 
The  red-skinned  inhabitants  of  the  mountain  terraces  of 
Western  Africa,  descending  into  the  malarious  swamps, 
have  lost  their  original  character,  and  have  become  de- 
graded in  both  body  and  mind  ;  but  these  negroes  are  by 
no  means  representatives  of  the  true  African  races.  "  In 
Africa,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  there  are  three  grand 
races,  as  there  may  be  said  to  be  three  grand  geological 
divisions. 

"  The  Libyan  stock  inhabit  the  primitive  and  volcanic 
trails.  They  have  a  very  tawny  complexion,  Caucasian 
features,  and  long  black  hair. 

"  On  the  sandstones  will  be  found  an  intermediate 
type.  They  are  darker  than  their  parents  ;  they  have 
short  and  very  curly  hair ;  their  lips  are  thick,  and  their 
nostrils  wide  at  the  base. 


i44  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

"  And  finally,  in  the  alluvia,  one  will  find  the  negroes 
with  a  black  skin,  woolly  hair,  and  prognathous  develop- 
ment."* 

That  soil,  climate,  and  the  supply  of  food  determine 
in  a  large  degree  the  physical  conformation  of  different 
races,  is  an  almost  universally  accepted  truth.  Prichard, 
Reade,  and  Livingstone,  as  well  as  others,  bear  united 
testimony  to  the  deteriorating  effects,  physically  and 
mentally,  of  mere  external  circumstances  alone.  Prich- 
ard has  assured  us  that  those  races  in  which  the  negro 
character  appears  in  its  most  exaggerated  form,  and 
which  present  the  most  debased  and  the  ugliest  blacks, 
are  to  be  found,  in  most  instances,  inhabiting  swampy 
and  unhealthy  tracts  near  the  seacoast,  where  they  have 
the  barest  means  of  subsistence.  They  are  not  only 
social  outcasts,  but  oppressed ;  yet,  whenever  their  social 
condition  and  external  surroundings  improve,  there  is 
obviously  a  corresponding  advance  in  their  features  and 
general  bearing.f  Reade  is  no  less  emphatic  in  contend- 
ing that,  while  the  degradation  of  the  negro  is  altogether 
indisputable,  it  is  only  degradation,  or  disease,  or  acci- 
dent, and  nothing  more.  And  Livingstone,  in  some  of 
his  more  recent  letters,  has  proved  not  only  that  the 
debasement  of  the  negro  tribes  is  exceptional,  but  that, 
when  free,  and  occupying  a  fair  field,  they  present  some 
of  the  nobler  aspects  of  the  human  race.J  Testimony 
has  been  borne  by  Humboldt  to  the  effects  on  physical 

*  See  "What  is  Truth  ?"  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  397,  398. 
t  "Researches,"  vol.  2,  p.  231. 

I  See  also  "Livingstone's  Researches  in  South  Africa,"  chap.  19;  and 
"  Man  and  his  Migrations,"  by  Latham. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  145 

conformation  which  the  elevated  plateau  and  its  rarer 
atmosphere  commonly  produced.  The  respiratory  organs, 
becoming  more  active,  demand  more  scope,  and  the 
result  has  been  that,  in  the  Andes,  such  a  development 
of  chest  is  common  as  to  be  almost  a  deformity.*  To 
come  nearer  home,  we  have,  in  the  comparatively  recent 
history  of  Ireland,  decided  evidence  of  the  rapidity  with 
which,  in  changed  circumstances,  a  people  may  become 
degenerated.  In  1641  and  1689,  there  was  a  bitter 
struggle  between  the  British  and  the  rebels,  which  ended 
in  the  native  Irish — stalwart  men — being  driven  from 
the  counties  Down  and  Armagh  to  the  bleak  districts  in 
the  west,  and  in  less  than  two  centuries  the  sad  effects 
became  painfully  visible.  The  mouth,  the  chin,  the 
cheek-bones,  the  height,  the  general  appearance,  beto- 
kened a  sunken  condition  akin  to  barbarism. 

The  theory  of  Agassiz  is  untenable,  because  it  is  un- 
necessary for  the  explanation  of  changes  in  even  contig- 
uous spheres  which  can  with  ease  be  traced  historically, 
and  because  it  fails,  also,  in  reference  to  the  lower  ani- 
mals in  his  zoological  provinces,  inasmuch  as  they  adapt 
themselves  to  distant  provinces  and  flourish  in  them. 
The  horses,  for  example,  let  loose  in  South  America,  have 
not  only  not  deteriorated  by  their  transference  to  a  new 
province,  but  have  improved.  Their  glossy  hair  has 
passed  into  a  shaggy  fur  ;  and  all  their  colors,  white, 
brown,  and  red,  have  disappeared  in  the  one  prevailing 
color.  The  swine  introduced  have  similarly  changed. 
The  hog  of  the  mountain  of  the  Paranos  now  resembles 

*  See  also  Darwin's  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  i,  p.  119. 

13 


i46  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  wild  boar  once  in  this  country  and  France.  The 
bristles  have  given  place  to  a  thick  fur,  often  crisp ;  and 
whatever  their  first  color,  they  are  uniformly  black.  The 
bodily  structure,  also,  has  altered  to  suit  their  new  con- 
dition ;  the  snout  has  become  long,  the  forehead  vaulted, 
and  the  hind  legs  lengthened.  The  dog  never  barks,  but 
howls  like  the  wolf;  and  the  structure  of  the  head  varies 
from  the  breadth  of  the  mastiff  to  the  narrowness  of  the 
greyhound.  In  other  parts  of  the  world,  similar  modifi- 
cations take  place.  The  African  sheep  becomes  goat- 
like, and  assumes  hair  for  wool ;  and  the  Wallachian 
sheep  gradually  presents  perpendicular  spiral  horns. 

Facts  crowd  on  us  ;  they  would  fill  volumes.  Ani- 
mals in  our  own  land  constitute  of  themselves  sufficient 
proof.  The  horse  varies  from  the  gigantic  dray-horse  of 
our  streets  to  the  small  Shetland  pony,  scrambling  with 
amazing  agility  over  highland  crags ;  the  clog,  from  the 
St.  Bernard  searching  for  some  frozen  traveller,  to  the 
lap-dog  nestling  in  the  warmth  of  the  drawing-room ; 
and  cattle,  from  the  small  highland  steer  to  the  huge 
prize  oxen  of  our  shows.  Unless  Britain  itself  can  be 
divided  into  zoological  provinces,  the  proofs  which  have 
been  stated  show  so  fully  the  adaptiveness  of  different 
animals,  and  the  changes  in  color  and  conformation  to 
which  it  leads,  that  we  are  fully  warranted  in  i-ejecting 
the  theory  of  diversity  of  origin  in  distinct  zoological 
centres. 

It  remains  for  us  to  give  here  an  outline  of  the  exten- 
sive evidence  which  has  been  adduced  in  support  of  the 
Bible  doctrine,  as  held  by  the  opponents  of  Agassiz. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  147 

3.  Proofs  in  support  of  Unity  of  Origin. 

The  direct  proofs  in  support  of  unity  of  origin  are, 
(1)  Bodily  Structure,  (2)  Language,  (3)  Tradition,  and 
(4)  Mental  Endowment. 

(1.)  Bodily  Structure. — Anatomists  and  physiologists 
of  the  highest  standing  assign  to  man's  bodily  structure 
a  place  distinct  from  that  of  all  other  animals.  The  fol- 
lowing conclusions  have  been  established,  whatever  may 
be  the  variety  of  the  race : 

a.  All  have  the  same  number  of  teeth,  and  of  addi- 
tional bones  in  their  body. 

b.  They  all  shed  their  teeth  in  the  same  way,  which 
also  differ  from  others  in  that  they  are  of  equal  length. 

c.  They  all  have  the  same  upright  posture — they  walk 
and  look  upwards. 

d.  The  head  is  set  in  every  variety  in  the  same  way. 

e.  They  possess  two  hands. 

f  They  possess  smooth  bodies,  and  heads  covered 
with  hair. 

g.  Every  muscle  and  every  nerve  in  every  variety  are 
the  same. 

//.  They  all  speak  and  laugh. 

i.  They  eat  different  kinds  of  food,  and  live  in  all 
climates. 

j.  They  are  more  helpless,  and  grow  more  slowly 
than  other  animals. 

Professor  Owen  has  very  distinctly  given  his  decision 
on  this  question  in  the  following  terms :  "  With  regard 
to  the  value  to  be  assigned  to  the  distinctions  of  race,  in 
consequence  of  not  any  of  those  differences  being  equiv- 


14S  blending  lights. 

alent  to  those  characteristics  of  the  skeleton  or  other 
parts  of  the  frame  upon  which  specific  differences  are 
founded  by  naturalists  in  reference  to  the  rest  of  animal 
creation,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  man  forms 
one  species,  and  that  differences  are  but  indicative  of  vari- 
eties." "  The  unity  of  the  human  species  is  demonstra- 
ted by  the  constancy  of  those  osteological  and  dental 
characters  to  which  the  attention  is  more  particularly 
directed  in  the  investigation  of  the  corresponding  char- 
acters in  the  higher  quadrumana."* 

k.  There  is  perhaps  no  argument  in  favor  of  the 
Bible  doctrine  of  unity  of  race  more  direct  than  that 
which  has  been  founded  on  the  physiological  barrier  to 
descent  from  mixing  distinct  species.  When  crossed, 
they  produce  hybrids  which  are  either  barren,  or.  degen- 
erate so  speedily  that  they  die  out.  Varied  experiments 
have  fully  proved  the  infertility  of  hybrids.  The  law 
which  controls  different  species  also  checks  their  descent ; 
the  mule,  for  example,  closes  the  history  of  descent  from 
the  horse  and  the  ass,  and  similar  results  are  always 
educed  from  similar  experiments.  Hybridity,  in  the 
crossing  of  the  horse  and  the  ass,  reaches  its  end  in  a 
single  generation,  and  is  thus  a  strong  protest  against  a 
theory  which  is  at  present  supported  by  influential  advo- 
cacy. The  plausible  combinations  of  suitable  facts,  which 
the  intermixture  'of  varieties  has  supplied,  do  not,  in  the 
remotest  degree,  show  the  possibility  of  descent  from 
clearly  distinct  species.  While  we  have  before  us  barri- 
ers which  Nature  does  not  overpass,  among  both  living 

*  Lecture  before  Cambridge  University,  p.  103. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  149 

plants  and  animals,  we  can  do  nothing  else  than  reject 
suppositions  as  to  all  barriers  having  been  by  some  means 
overcome  in  bygone  ages.  Purity  of  species  has  been 
preserved  with  obvious  care.  "  It  strikes  us  naturally 
with  wonder,"  says  Professor  Dana,  "  that  even  in  sense- 
less plants,  without  the  emotional  repugnance  of  instinct, 
and  with  reproductive  organs  that  are  all  outside,  the 
free  winds  being  often,  the  means  of  transmission,  there 
should  be  rigid  law  sustained  against  intermixture.  The 
supposed  cases  of  perpetuated  fertile  hybridity  are  so 
exceedingly  few,  as  almost  to  condemn  themselves  as  no 
true  examples  of  an  abnormity  so  abhorrent  to  the  sys- 
tem. They  violate  a  principle  so  essential  to  the  integ- 
rity of  the  plant-kingdom,  and  so  opposed  to  Nature's 
whole  plan,  that  we  rightly  demand  long  and  careful 
study  before  admitting  the  exceptions."* 

A  careful  review  of  this  section  of  evidence  satisfac- 
torily indicates  that  organic  species  preserve  permanent 
distinctions,  and  that  all  the  varieties  of  the  human  race 
constitute  only  one  species,  which  has  descended  from 
a  single  pair. 

(2.)  Language. — Language  has  unexpectedly  become 
a  witness  to  the  unity  of  the  race.  A.  new  course  of  inves- 
tigation has  been  commenced,  and  has  created  surpass- 
ing-interest. The  discovery,  less  than  a  century  ago,  of 
the  Sanskrit  literature,  has  revolutionized  long-accepted 
opinions  as  to  the  Hebrew  language,  and  is  gradually 
removing  confusion.  It  has  become  the  connecting  link 
between  widely-separated  dialects,  and  has  established  a 

*  Quoted  in  "  What  is  Trnth  ?"  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  A.  M..  p.  189. 

13* 


t5o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

new  classification.  The  Asiatic  Society,  founded  in  Cal- 
cutta in  1784,  and  rendered  illustrious  by  the  exertions  of 
Sir  William  Jones,  Carey  the  missionary,  and  others, 
gave  impulses  to  investigation  which  are  still  sustained ; 
and  a  history  in  philology  of  unequalled  brilliancy  has 
run  on  for  half  a  century.  A  new  science,  that  of  Lan- 
guage, classed  by  Max  Miiller  among  the  Physical  Sci- 
ences, has  been  created ;  and  the  longer  it  is  prosecuted 
and  the  more  exactly  its  results  are  systematized,  the 
more  thoroughly  is  Scripture  confirmed.  Language  is  a 
mysterious  characteristic  of  man,  and  forms  an  impassa- 
ble barrier  between  him  and  the  lower  animals.  No  the- 
ories of  evolution  or  development  can  displace  the  mar- 
vellousness  of  human  speech.  Though  much  in  the 
realm  of  language  has  perished  ;  though  whole  periods  in 
its  history  have  irrecoverably  gone ;  yet  the  mass  that 
remains,  both  in  dead  and  in  living  languages,  is  suffi- 
cient to  tax  for  generations  the  scholarship  of  Europe 
and  the  East.  It  is  yet  impossible  to  fix  exactly  the 
number  of  known  languages.  Adelung  announced  three 
thousand  and  sixty-four  distinct  languages;  Balbi  eight 
hundred  languages  and  five  thousand  dialects ;  and  Max 
Miiller  has  calculated  that  there  are  nine  hundred  known 
languages.  Their  number  and  their  prominence  may 
well  excite  our  sympathy  with  Max  Miiller,  when,  in  sur- 
prise at  their  long  neglect,  he  says  :  "  Man  has  studied 
every  part  of  nature — the  mineral  treasures  in  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  the  flowers  of  each  season,  the  animals  of 
every  continent,  the  laws  of  storms,  and  the  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies ;  he  had  analyzed  every  substance, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  151 

dissected  every  organism  ;  he  knew  every  bone  and  mus 
cle,  every  nerve  and  fibre  of  his  own  body,  to  the  ultimate 
elements  which  compose  his  flesh  and  blood ;  he  had 
meditated  on  the  nature  of  his  soul,  on  the  laws  of  his 
mind,  and  tried  to  penetrate  into  the  last  causes  of  all 
being — and  yet,  language,  without  the  aid  of  which  not 
even  the  first  step  in  this  glorious  career  could  have  been 
made,  remained  unnoticed.  Like  a  veil  that  hung  too 
close  over  the  eye  of  the  human  mind,  it  was  hardly  per- 
ceived. In  an  age  when  the  study  of  antiquity  attracted 
the  most  energetic  minds,  when  the  ashes  of  Pompeii 
were  sifted  for  the  playthings  of  Roman  life ;  when 
parchments  were  made  to  disclose,  by  chemical  means, 
the  erased  thoughts  of  Grecian  thinkers  ;  when  the  tombs 
of  Egypt  were  ransacked  for  their  sacred  contents,  and 
the  palaces  of  Babylon  and  Nineveh  were  forced  to  sur- 
render the  clay  diaries  of  Nebuchadnezzar  ;  when  every- 
thing, in  fact,  that  seemed  to  contain  a  vestige  of  the 
early  life  of  man  was  anxiously  searched  for,  and  care- 
fully preserved  in  our  libraries  and  museums — language, 
which  in  itself  carries  us  back  far  beyond  the  cuneiform 
literature  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  and  the  hieroglyphic 
documents  of  Egypt — which  connects  ourselves,  through 
an  unbroken  chain  of  speech,  with  the  very  ancestors  of 
our  race,  and  still  draws  its  life  from  the  first  utterances 
of  the  human  mind — language,  the  living  and  speaking 
witness  of  the  whole  history  of  our  race,  was  never  cross- 
examined  by  the  student  of  history,  was  never  made  to 
disclose  its  secrets,  until  questioned,  and,  so  to  say, 
brought  back  to  itself,   within    the  last  fifty  years,  by 


i5 2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  genius  of  a  Humboldt,  Bopp,  Grimm,  Bunsen,  and 
others."* 

This  long  neglect  is  strange  ;  it  is  an  irremediable 
loss.  Be  it  so  ;  we  are  now  reaping  the  fruits  of  fresh 
enthusiasm  and  scholarship.  The  science  of  language  is 
not  only  achieving  with  dead  dialects  what  geology  is 
tracing  in  fossils,  but  it  is  also  doing  with  living  lan- 
guages what  natural  history  is  accomplishing  among  the 
existent  fauna  of  the  globe.  Like  geology  and  astrono- 
my, it  has  had  among  its  earliest  efforts  to  correct  its 
own  mistakes,  when,  like  them,  it  had  spoken  too  hastily 
against  the  Bible. 

There  are  certain  received  conclusions  which  are  con- 
firmatory of  the  Bible  as  to  one  language  being  the  foun- 
dation of  all  others,  until  broken  up  in  confusion  at  the 
Tower  of  Babel.  The  greatest  philologists  are  agreed 
regarding  the  classification  which  reduces  all  languages 
to  three  families — the  Aryan,  the  Semitic,  and  the  Tu- 
ranian. Under  these  are  grouped  the  chief  dialects  of 
Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe  ;  and  although  the  arrangement 
is  confessedly 'imperfect,  it  is  astonishing  to  find,  amid 
many  conflicting  surface  appearances,  so  much  at  bottom 
that  is  really  harmonious. 

Another  classification,  which  has  been  based  on  their 
roots,  and  has  reference  to  their  internal  structure,  does 
not  militate  against,  but  rather  strengthens  this  conclu- 
sion.! In  an  instructive  article  on  the  Confusion  oj 
Tongues,  in  Smith's  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  there  are 

*  "Science  of  Language,"  p.  26. 

t  "  Science  of  Language,"  First  Series,  pp.  254-279. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  153 

specified  four  instances  in  which  proofs  of  unity  of  lan- 
guage may  be  found  ;  and  the  writer  adds  :  "  Such  a  re- 
sult, though  it  does  not  prove  the  unity  of  language  in 
respect  to  its  radical  elements,  nevertheless  tends  to  es- 
tablish the  a  priori  probability  of  this  unity ;  for  if  all 
connected  with  the  forms  of  language  may  be  referred  to 
certain  general  laws — if  nothing  in  that  department  owes 
its  origin  to  chance  or  arbitrary  appointment — it  surely 
proves  the  presumption  that  the  same  principle  would 
extend  to  the  formation  of  the  roots  which  are  the  very 
core  and  kernel  of  language.  Here,  too,  we  might  ex- 
pect to  find  the  operation  of  fixed  laws  of  some  kind  or 
other  producing  results  of  a  uniform  character  ;  here,  too, 
actual  variety  may  not  be  inconsistent  with  original 
unity."* 

The  inference  is  fully  warranted  by  what  has  been 
ascertained,  that  nothing  valuable  has  been  added  to  the 
substance  of  languages,  that  its  changes  have  been  those 
of  form  only,  and  that  no  new  root  or  radical  has  been 
invented  by  later  generations.  The  Teutonic  languages 
of  Europe,  of  which  the  vernacular  Scotch  is  part,  are 
illustrated  by  the  language  of  Persia  ;  the  Latin  of  Italy 
connects  itself  with  Russian  idioms  ;  and  Greek  with 
the  Sanskrit  of  India.  From  Ceylon,  with  its  fragrant 
breezes,  to  Iceland,  with  its  wintry  storms,  there  is,  irre- 
spective of  form,  of  color,  of  social  life,  and  religious  in- 
stitutions, but  one  belt  of  language.  The  American 
tribes  in  the  far  West,  Humboldt  has  assured  us,  are  in- 
dissolubly  united  to  the  inhabitants  of  Asia ;   the  Ian- 

"t  "Smith's  Bible  Dictionary."    Art.,  "Confusion  of  Tongues." 


!54 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


guages  of  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhet,  have  a  common  affin- 
ity ;  hills,  plains,  climates  change,  but  language  in  its 
substantial  elements  is  really  more  enduring  than  the 
pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  ruins  of  Palmyra,  or  the  statues 
of  Greece. 

Klaproth,  who  has  little  reverence  for  the  Bible,  says, 
"  All  languages  in  the  world  are  connected  with  one 
origin :  a  universal  affinity  is  completely  demonstrated  ;" 
and  Herder,  though  doubting  the  inspiration  of  Moses, 
is  yet  decided  in  his  belief  that  the  human  race  and  hu- 
man language  go  back  to  one  source.  "  All  dialects," 
says  the  Petersburgh  Academy,  "are  to  be  considered  as 
dialects  of  one  now  lost." 

Max  Miiller,  who  has  traced  an  intimate  connection 
between  Finnish  through  the  remote  north  of  Europe 
and  Tamil  in  Southern  India,  has  submitted  the  follow- 
ing conclusion :  "  Nothing  necessitates  the  admission  of 
different  independent  beginnings  for  the  material  ele- 
ments of  the  Turanian,  Semitic,  and  Aryan  branches  of 
speech ;  nay,  it  is  possible,  even  now,  to  point  out  radi- 
cals, which,  under  various  changes  and  disguises,  have 
been  current  in  these  branches  ever  since  their  first  sep- 
aration." Again,  "  if  inductive  reasoning  is  worth  any- 
thing, we  are  justified  in  believing  that  what  has  been 
proved  to  be  true  on  so  large  a  scale,  and  in  cases  where 
it  was  least  expected,  is  true  in  regard  to  language  in 
general.  .  .  .  We  can  understand  not  only  the  origin  of 
language,  but  likewise  the  necessary  breaking-up  of  one 
language  into  many  ;  and  we  perceive  that  no  amount  of 
variety  in  the  material  or  the  formal  elements  of  speech 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  155 

is  incompatible  with  the  admission  of  one  common 
source."  Inquiry  has  not  exhausted  anomalies  ;  difficul- 
ties remain  ;  the  Chinese  language  has  not  yet  been  sat- 
isfactorily adjusted  in  the  range  of  classification,  nor 
have  the  rapidly-varying  dialects  of  some  outlying  tribes 
been  definitely  assigned  their  place  in  the  chain  of  con- 
nections ;  but  these  do  not  affect  the  general  conclusion 
to  which  philological  investigation  has  guided  scholars 
The  science  has  led  us  to  that  highest  and  earliest  rest- 
ing-place "whence  we  can  see  into  the  very  dawn  of 
man's  life  on  earth,  and  where  the  words  with  which 
from  childhood  we  have  been  familiar,  '  And  the  whole 
earth  was  of  one  language,  and  one  speech/  assume  a 
meaning  more  natural  and  more  impressive  than  they 
ever  had  before."* 

(3.)  Tradition. — The  traditions  which  prevail  in  all 
lands,  connect  together  distant  and  dissimilar  races. 

Omitting  those  that  are  less  significant  or  less  wide- 
spread, though  full  of  interest  notwithstanding,  let  us 
refer  to  some  of  those  which  have  been  most  distinctly 
recognized  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  Outlying  and 
comparatively  isolated  tribes  may  be  found,  without  tra- 
ditions of  any  kind  ;  but  these  do  not  affect  the  argu- 
ment as  drawn  from  those  traditions  which,  in  different 
forms,  are  common  to  all  the  leading  communities  in  the 
world. 

*  For  a  general  view  of  the  whole  subject,  and  for  details  also,  we 
must  refer  to  the  "  Science  of  Language,"  by  Max  Midler,  First  and  Sec- 
ond Series ;  to  Bopp's  "  Comparative  Grammar  of  the  Sanskrit,  Zend, 
Greek,  Latin,  Lithuanian,  and  other  Languages ;"  and  to  "  Language, 
and  the  Study  of  Language,"  by  Professor  YV.  D.  Whitney. 


156  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

a.  The  creation  of  man  has  its  place  in  the  legends 
of  Greece,  in  the  beliefs  of  India,  in  the  cosmogony  of 
Peru,  and  in  the  traditions  of  the  tribes  of  North  Amer- 
ica, of  the  South  Sea  Islanders,  and  of  the  Dyaks  of 
Borneo. 

b.  The  Garden  of  Eden  has  its  counterpart  in  the 
City  of  Brahma,  as  described  by  the  Vishnu  Purana  ;  it 
has  its  representation  also  in  the  Grecian  fable  regarding 
the  Garden  of  the  Hesperides,  with  which  every  well- 
taught  schoolboy  is  familiar  ;  and  the  encircling  of  the 
garden  by  high  mountains,  the  golden  apples,  the  myste- 
rious tree,  the  watchful  serpent,  the  destruction  of  the 
serpent  by  Hercules,  and  the  relation  of  Hercules  to  Ju- 
piter, are  obviously  suggestive  of  the  Scripture  narrative. 

c.  The  Temptation  and  the  Fall  have  their  record 
in  the  Greek  legend  regarding  the  lovely  Pandora,  who 
was  sent  by  Jupiter  to  punish  the  human  race.  Yield- 
ing to  her  fatal  curiosity,  she  opened  the  closed  box 
which  Prometheus  had  given  to  her,  and  diseases  and 
wars  sped  forth. 

d.  Traditions  as  to  man's  innocence,  happiness,  and 
freedom  from  disease,  as  to  his  having  yielded  to  flattery 
in  an  evil  hour,  or  to  the  temptation  of  a  woman,  and  as 
to  his  having  lost  therefore  his  early  intellectual  and 
moral  preeminence,  prevailed  in  China,  Thibet,  Persia, 
Ceylon,  and  India. 

e.  The  division  of  time  into  weeks  has  been  almost 
universal,  and  the  prevalence  of  serpent-worship  has 
been  such  as  to  be  of  itself  a  strong  argument  for  the 
unity  of  the  race.     In  Mr.  Ferguson's  most  remarkable 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  157 

work  on  "  Tree  and  Serpent  Worship,"  we  have  practices 
described  which  unite  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  In 
Madagascar,  the  Friendly  Islands,  and  in  various  parts 
of  America,  the  serpent  has  been  either  held  in  the 
greatest  reverence  or  worshipped. 

f.  There  existed  traditions  of  the  Deluge  in  China, 
India,  Persia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  the  Roman  Empire  ; 
in  the  scattered  islands  of  the  Pacific ;  in  America — 
North  and  South ;  amid  the  Indian  tribes  in  sunny  prai- 
ries, and  the  Cree  Indians  moving  amid  the  enduring 
snows  of  the  north. 

g.  Sacrifices  were  offered  in  the  different  parts  of 
the  earth,  and  among  all  peoples.  Religious  rites,  sac- 
rificial or  expiatory,  prevailed  from  Athens  to  Upsal, 
from  Egypt  to  China,  and  in  various  portions  of  the 
American  continent. 

These  traditions,  of  which  we  have  given  only  a  very 
general  outline,  constitute  a  cumulative  argument  in  favor 
of  one  race,  which  cannot  be  ignored  or  set  aside.  Their 
prevalence  is  utterly  inexplicable,  except  through  the  Bi- 
ble narrative.  On  its  basis  alone  can  we  so  adjust  the 
facts  of  science,  and  the  common  traditions  of  dissimilar 
races,  as  to  realize  perfectly  harmonious  results. 

(4.)  Mental  and  Moral  Endowments. — Even  those  who 
accept  the  Darwinian  theory  in  whole  or  in  part,  admit 
that  the  intellectual  and  moral  superiority  of  man  is 
such  as  to  separate  him  from  all  other  creatures.  What- 
ever differences  of  opinion  may  exist  regarding  man's 
physical  relations  to  the  lower  animals,  there  is  none  in 
reference  to  his  intellectual  and  moral  superiority. 

14 


158  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

In  the  language  of  Scripture,  man  is  made  "in  the 
image  of  God."  The  description  is  singular,  to  define  a 
singular  result.  Man's  standard  is  not  of  earth,  his  aspi- 
rations are  upward ;  he  has  elements  in  his  spiritual  na- 
ture which  separate  him  from  the  world  he  dwells  in. 
The  Bible  makes  no  limitation,  and  draws  no  distinction. 
As  we  have  already  explained,  God  made  man  capable 
of  knowing,  reasoning,  and  loving.  While  the  body  de- 
mands food,  the  mind  seeks  truth.  It  thirsts  for  knowl- 
edge ;  hence,  it  is  said  of  man,  by  the  great  Teacher, 
that,  in  the  highest  sense,  he  "shall  not  live  by  bread 
alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God."  Matt.  4 : 4.  There  is,  further,  a  con- 
sciousness of  right  and  wrong.  He  has  a  discriminating 
and  distinguishing  power.  Perverted  in  its  uses  it  may 
be,  but  still  it  works.  Man  has  also  a  moral  faculty. 
Conscience  may  slumber  or  be  inactive,  but  the  power  is 
there  to  be  acted  on.  In  his  most  sunken  state,  he  has 
a  capacity  for  religion.  He  can  be  taught  to  look  to 
God,  and  to  a  home  in  the  Unseen.  On  these  plain 
truths  we  need  not  dwell ;  the  question  which  connects 
itself  with  them  is,  admitting  these  facts,  are  they  so 
present  in  all  races  as  to  prove  them  one  in  origin  ? 

American  controversialists,  compelled  by  anatomy 
and  physiology  to  give  up  the  idea  of  difference  of  origin 
as  dependent  on  man's  physical  structure,  spent  their 
energies  in  the  attempt  to  prove  that  the  negro  race  was 
not  only  intellectually  inferior,  but  morally  unimprovable. 
They  denounced  him  as  devoid  of  feeling,  weak  in  intel- 
lect, and  defective  in  moral  principle  ;  but  their  proof  has 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  159 

completely  failed.  Tried  by  tests  common  among  our- 
selves, the  negro  disproves  their  assertions. 

Negroes  have  shown  all  the  qualities  of  our  emotional 
nature.  Unexpected  circumstances  produce  surprise  or 
astonishment,  and  unexplained  events,  wonder ;  the  beau- 
tiful evokes  admiration,  and  the  sublime,  awe  ;  kindness 
lights  the  eye  with  gratitude,  and  the  amusing  creates 
laughter ;  sorrow  bedews  the  cheek  with  tears,  and  bit- 
ter remorse  follows  the  memory  of  a  crime  or  a  wrong. 
These  emotions  and  these  moral  influences  bind  us  all 
together.  "  Indeed,"  says  an  accurate  observer,  "  the 
feelings  of  negroes  are  extremely  acute.  According  to 
the  way  in  which  they  are  treated,  they  are  gay  or  mel- 
ancholy, laborious  or  slothful,  enemies  or  friends.  The 
throb  of  manly  affection,  and  the  tear  of  brotherly  sym- 
pathy— a  glittering  gem  on  a  swarthy  cheek — are  of  them- 
selves touches  of  nature  making  us  all  one." 

Their  intellectuality,  also,  has  been  denied.  Igno- 
rance and  degradation  are  the  facts  adduced  in  proof; 
but  history  vindicates  their  title  to  great  mental  resour- 
ces. Has  not  the  Ethiopic  race  left  traces  of  its  prowess 
not  only  in  Africa,  but  in  Central  Asia  ?  Debased  and 
sunken  tribes  in  swampy  regions,  it  is  true,  fringe  the 
Atlantic  coast  ;  but  they  are  exceptional.  Inland,  the 
tribes  are  intelligent  and  powerful.*  Try  even  the  low- 
est of  the  negro  tribes,  and  what  will  they  not  accom- 
plish ;  give  them  scope,  and  they  will  show  the  ordinary 
results  of  civilization.     Dr.  Hamilton  of  Mobile,  whose 

*  The  late  despatches  of  Dr.  Livingstone  have  proved  beyond  question 
what  was  before  in  part  maintained. 


160  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

opportunities  of  observation  were  very  extensive,  has 
said,  "That  there  is,  in  comparison  with  the  white,  any 
essential  inferiority  of  intellect  native  to  the  negro,  the 
observation  and  experience  of  nearly  thirty  years  of 
familiar  intercourse  with  whites  and  with  blacks,  as  a 
minister  of  religion,  would  never  lead  me  to  believe.  A 
difference  there  certainly  is  in  the  intellectual  character 
as  well  as  in  the  physical  organization  of  the  two  races ; 
but  a  decided  and  essential  inferiority  of  the  one  to  the 
other,  in  point  of  intellect,  I  cannot  discern."* 

Of  their  skill  as  carpenters  and  watchmakers,  of  their 
taste  in  drawing,  of  their  musical  talents,  of  their  capacity 
in  physical  and  mathematical  science,  many  proofs  might 
be  given  from  the  writings  of  those  who  have  had  oppor- 
tunities of  personal  observation.  Blumenbach  has  de- 
clared that  entire  provinces  of  Europe  might  be  named 
in  which  it  would  be  most  difficult  to  find  in  correspond- 
ents of  the  French  Academy  such  good  writers,  poets, 
and  philosophers,  as  are  some  of  them. 

a.  All  men  have  a  higher  power  than  intellect — they 
have  conscience.  While  Intellect  and  Will,  separating 
man  from  all  beneath,  make  him  a  person,  Conscience 
makes  him  moral  and  responsible  ;  it  gives  the  idea  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  is  the  basis  of  natural  law.  It  does 
not  affect  the  argument  to  say  that  a  common  standard 
in  different  tribes  and  nations  has  not  been  found,  and 
that  moral  judgments  therefore  differ.  It  is  enough  that 
there  is  any  standard.  The  most  debased  criminals  in 
our  land,  who  have  set  law  at  defiance,  calculate  on  trial 
*  "  The  Pentateuch  and  its  Assailants,"  p.  319. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  161 

and  justice.  The  most  sunken  races  have  their  rude 
way  of  settling  disputes.  "  The  principles  on  which  men 
reason  in  morals,"  says  Hume,  "are  the  same,  though 
their  conclusions  be  different." 

b.  All  races  have  capacity  for  the  higher  exercises 
of  religion.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  the  dispute 
as  to  some  tribes  being  destitute  or  not  of  every  idea  of 
even  a  remotely  religious  kind  ;  the  question  is,  Have 
they  capacity  for  religious  teaching  and  a  religious  life  ? 
No  one  who  has  denied  this  has  given  proof  of  his  asser- 
tion. Experience  alone  can  substantiate  such  opinions. 
Christian  missionaries  have  never  yet  told  us  of  an  irre- 
claimable and  unimprovable  tribe.  That  differences 
exist  in  aptitude  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture,  every 
one  admits.  They  are  common  in  all  civilized  nations, 
as  well  as  among  savage  tribes ;  but  races  the  most 
sunken  and  debased  have  been  uplifted  and  refined. 
Culture  cannot,  and  does  not,  impart  a  single  intellectual 
and  moral  force  not  originally  existent  in  man,  but  it 
evolves  forces,  however  long-neglected  and  dormant ;  and 
their  appearance  constitutes  a  new  testimony  to  the  unity 
of  our  race.  To  these  and  similar  results  we  shall  more 
fully  advert  when  we  have  to  consider  the  bearing  of  the 
Gospel  message  on  the  human  race. 

c.  Another  peculiarity,  common  to  all  races,  meets 
us  in  the  fact  that  there  is  naturally  no  love  of  the  Cre- 
ator by  the  creature,  nor  gratitude  by  the  constantly 
upheld  to  the  Upholder.  Is  it  not  strange  that  man 
should  everywhere  fear,  and  not  love,  God  ?     Is  it  not 

unnatural  that,  while  thankful  to  his  fellow-creature  for 

11* 


1 62  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

kindness,  man  should  be  unthankful  to  his  God,  and  un- 
mindful of  him,  except  when  compelled  by  uneasiness  of 
conscience  to  honor  him  by  a  routine  of  external  obser- 
vances ?  There  is  only  one  explanation,  and  that  is,  a 
universal  opposition  to  the  holiness  of  a  loving  and  mer- 
ciful Father.  There  is  a  sense  of  depravity,  there  is  a 
feeling  of  wrongness,  and  there  is,  consequently,  the 
gloom  of  fear  where  there  should  be  the  glow  and  the 
confidence  of  love.  Powerful  as  is  this  darkening  influ- 
ence, Natural  Science  cannot  discover  nor  deal  with  it. 
"  It  lies  where  the  tests  of  chemistry  cannot  detect,  nor 
the  knife  of  the  anatomist  reach  it,  nor  the  eye  of  the 
physiognomist  discern,  nor  the  instrument  of  the  phre- 
nologist measure  it.  It  lies  in  the  depth  of  the  soul, 
and  comes  out  in  the  remarkable  fact  that,  while  all  the 
hues  of  the  skin  differ,  and  the  forms  of  the  skull  and  the 
features  of  the  face  are  cast  in  different  moulds,  the  fea- 
tures, character,  and  color  of  the  heart  are  the  same  in 
all.  Be  he  pale-faced  or  red,  tawny  or  black,  Jew,  Greek, 
Scythian,  bond  or  free,  whether  he  be  the  civilized  inhab- 
itant of  Europe,  or  roam  a  painted  savage  in  American 
woods,  pant  beneath  the  burning  sun,  or,  wrapped  in  furs, 
shiver  amid  the  Arctic  shores,  (as  in  all  classes  of  soci- 
ety, so  in  all  races  of  men,)  "  the  heart  is  deceitful  above 
all  things,  and  desperately  wicked  ;"  "  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God."  The  pendulum  vibrates  slower  at 
the  equator  than  the  pole ;  the  farther  north  we  push  our 
way  over  thick-ribbed  ice,  the  faster  goes  the  clock  ;  but 
parallels  of  latitude  have  no  modifying  influences  on  the 
motions  of  the  heart.     It  beats  the  same  in  all  men,  nor 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  163 

till  repaired  by  grace  does  it  in  any  way  beat  true  to 
God."* 

In  bodily  structure,  in  language,  in  tradition,  and  in 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  character,  we  find  abun- 
dant evidence  to  prove  unity  of  race ;  and  there  is  the 
amplest  confirmation  of  it  in  the  character  and  extent  of 
the  Gospel  or  Christian  scheme.  It  assumes  unity,  and 
it  comes  with  a  free,  full,  universal  message.  The  Great 
Teacher  and  Redeemer  drew  no  distinction :  "  Go  ye 
therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you."  Matt.  28  :  19,  20.  The  message 
is  for  all ;  it  is  everywhere  needed  ;  teaching  is  to  be  the 
process,  and  all  are  assumed  to  be  capable  of  instruc- 
,  tion  and  obedience.  The  doctrine  of  diversity  of  origin, 
and  of  distinct  and  lower  races,  is  inconsistent,  not  only 
with  the  facts  and  principles  of  different  sciences,  but 
with  the  direct  teachings  of  Christianity. 

*  Dr.    Guthrie.     "The  Gospel   in    Ezekiel,"    pp.   40,   41  ;    abridged, 
1863. 


1 64  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

WERE  OUR  FIRST    PARENTS   SAVAGES  ? RECENT  THEORIES 

AS    TO    THE    ORIGIN    OF    CIVILIZATION    CONSIDERED    IN 
RELATION  TO  SCRIPTURE  AND  HISTORY. 

Even  if  we  had  not  Revelation  to  guide  us,  it  would  be  most  unphilo- 
sophical  to  attempt  to  trace  back  the  history  of  man,  without  taking  into 
account  the  most  remarkable  facts  of  his  nature — the  facts  of  civilization, 
arts,  governments,  speech,  his  traditions,  his  internal  wants,  his  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  religious  constitution.  If  we  will  attempt  such  a  retro- 
spect, we  must  look  at  all  these  things  as  evidenee  of  the  origin  and  end  of 
man's  being  ;  and  when  we  do  thus  comprehend  in  one  view  the  whole  of 
the  argument,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  arrive  at  an  origin  homogeneous 
with  the  present  order  of  things. — professor  whewei.l. 

What  was  man's  primeval  condition  ?  Were  our 
first  parents  savages?  Are  we  descended  from  "some 
creature  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man"  ?  Is  civilization 
the  commencement  of  human  history,  or  its  close  ?  Is  it 
a  natural  evolution  of  savage  life,  or  is  it  dependent  for 
its  origin  and  growth  on  influences  external  to  man  ?  Is 
it  ever  flowing  and  ebbing  within  definite  and  ascertain- 
able limits  ?  Does  it  reach  a  maximum  only  again  to 
sink,  or  is  it  carrying  with  every  apparently  fitful  advance 
the  elements  of  expansion  and  of  ultimate  stability  ? 
These  are  questions  which  the  eager  thinking  of  the  age 
is  forcing  upon  us,  and  compelling  us  to  answer.  Re- 
peated discussions  in  meetings  of  the  British  Association 
for  the  Promotion  of  Science ;  elaborate  works,  such  as 
those  by  Darwin,  Spencer,  Wallace,  Sir  John  Lubbock, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  165 

and  Tylor ;  and  powerful  articles  in  our  serial  literature ; 
show  the  importance  that  is  attached  to  this  subject,  and 
represent  facts  and  inferences  which,  be  our  belief  what 
it  may,  ought  not  to  be  summarily  rejected.  They  claim 
a  sifting  yet  candid  examination ;  and  we  should  be 
able,  on  the  basis  of  science  and  history,  as  well  as  on 
that  of  Scripture,  to  found  reliable  conclusions  regarding 
the  origin  and  progress  of  civilization. 

The  discussion  has  not  been  satisfactorily  prosecuted, 
because  of  the  want  of  agreement  as  to  the  constituent 
elements  of  barbarism  and  civilization.  Wherein  lies  the 
difference  ?  What  line  separates  the  two  ?  How  low 
must  a  man  sink  to  become  a  savage  ?  How  high  must 
he  rise  to  be  ranked  among  the  civilized  ?  What  kind 
and  what  amount  of  knowledge  may  be  held  sufficient  to 
separate  the  civilized  from  the  savage  ?  Of  what  mechan- 
ical appliances  must  he  be  capable,  what  intellectual 
resources  must  he  command,  and  what  moral  and  reli- 
gious sentiments  must  influence  or  control  his  life  ? — are 
questions  which  have  not  yet  been  definitely  answered. 
No  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  a  scientific  definition 
of  either  barbarism  or  civilization,  and  the  consequence 
is  a  prevailing  haziness  in  all  the  reasoning  which  we 
have  been  constrained  to  follow.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has 
not  made  the  attempt ;  nor  did  Archbishop  Whately ; 
nor  has  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  although  in  his  "  Primeval 
Man  "  he  has  specified  this  very  defect.  In  his  late  work, 
Sir  John  Lubbock  has  distinctly  refused  to  give  any  defi- 
nition. "  In  truth,"  he  says,  "  it  would  be  impossible  in 
a  few  words  to  define  the  complex  organization  which  we 


1 66  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

call  civilization,  or  to  state  in  a  few  words  how  a  civilized 
differs  from  a  barbarous  people.  Indeed,  to  define  civil- 
ization as  it  should  be,  is  surely  as  yet  impossible,  since 
we  are  far  indeed  from  having  solved  the  problem  how 
we  may  best  avail  ourselves  of  our  opportunities,  and 
enjoy  the  beautiful  world  in  which  we  live."*  We  are 
disappointed  by  this  excuse.  In  a  discussion  of  this 
kind,  involving  so  much  that  is  of  vital  interest,  it  is 
impossible  to  proceed  in  safety  without  some  first  princi- 
ples as  our  guide,  and  some  end  or  object  as  our  goal. 
Without  these,  we  grope  through  mists,  and  are  distract- 
ed by  different  standards.  M.  Guizot,  in  his  well-known 
"  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe,"  has  recognized  the 
importance  of  distinct  ideas  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
term,  and  has  elaborately  stated  what  are  those  condi- 
tions of  society  which  in  his  view  represent  civilization. 
Although  he  does  not  give  a  scientific  definition,  he  states 
with  such  clearness,  descriptively  and  hypothetically,  what 
individual,  social,  and  political  interests  are  embraced  by 
it,  that  we  can  read  with  ease  and  comfort  his  truly  philo- 
sophic discussion  ;  and  even  when  we  do  not  accept  his 
conclusions,  we  are  prepared  to  admit  how  harmoniously 
they  fit  into  the  descriptive  hypothesis  which  he  has  given 
at  the  commencement.  While  his  work  has  a  different 
basis  from  that  of  Sir  John  Lubbock,  and  a  less  compre- 
hensive aim,  it  illustrates  the  close  philosophic  treat- 
ment which  the  subject  must  yet  receive  in  the  new  rela- 
tions in  which  it  has  of  late  been  discussed. 

*  "  On  the  Origin  of  Civilization  and  the  Primitive  Condition  of  Man," 
P-  339- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  167 

The  refusal  of  Sir  John  Lubbock  to  state  what,  even 
in  a  general  or  comprehensive  sense,  are  the  distinguish- 
ing features  of  the  civilization  regarding  which  he  writes 
with  such  fulness,  is  unsatisfactory.  It  leaves  everything 
in  confusion.  Let  it  be  understood  that  it  is  not  a  logi- 
cal definition  of  civilization  as  it  should  be,  nor  any  ex- 
planation of  its  material  effects  as  they  now  appear,  which 
we  desiderate,  but  unambiguous  references  to  such  prin- 
ciples in  mental  and  moral  life  as  should  control  material 
results  without  being  absolutely  dependent  on  them.  It 
does  not  avail  to  say  that  it  is  "  impossible,"  because  we 
have  not  "  solved  the  problem  how  we  may  best  avail 
ourselves  of  the  opportunities  and  enjoy  the  beautiful 
world  we  live  in."  On  what  does  this  enjoyment  de- 
pend ?  On  material  acts,  with  the  luxuries  they  bring  ? 
or  on  mental  and  moral  resources  without  them  ?  or  on 
both  ?  It  is  surely  not  too  much  to  expect  from  one  who 
undertakes  to  explain  to  us  "the  origin  of  civilization," 
that  he  state  in  what  sense  he  uses  this  term,  and  how 
much  it  implies  in  relation  at  least  to  those  facts  which 
he  describes.  There  are  surely  some  first  principles 
which,  operating  in  society,  create  civilization  ;  or  there 
are  at  least  some  facts  which,  when  they  do  appear,  deter- 
mine its  necessary  conditions. 

As  the  opinions  which  have  of  late  been  thus  influen- 
tially  promulgated,  would,  if  correct,  not  only  render  the 
Bible  unworthy  of  acceptance,  even  as  an  historical  docu- 
ment, but  displace  the  whole  Christian  system  as  a  Force 
elevating  and  refining  the  human  race,  it  is  incumbent 
on  all  to  examine,  with  the  greatest  care,  the  reasoning 


1 68  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

by  which  their  conclusions  are  supported.  We  therefore 
propose  to  examine  the  subject — First,  generally  in  its 
relation  to  the  Bible  and  to  History ;  and  Second,  more 
minutely,  in  its  relation  to  the  Mental  Faculties,  the  Moral 
Sense  or  Conscience,  and  Religion. 

I.    RECENT  THEORIES  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  BIBLE. 

Although  we  do  not  meet  in  the  Bible  with  the  term 
"  civilization,"  nor  with  any  formal  delineation  of  that 
complex  social  organization  which  the  word  now  implies, 
we  have  the  principles  clearly  defined  and  the  duties 
firmly  enforced  on  which  its  origin,  growth,  and  stability 
depend.  They  are  moral  rather  than  intellectual,  and 
spiritual  rather  than  material. 

Apart  altogether  from  the  question  of  inspiration, 
and  assuming  the  Scriptural  record  to  be  not  less  worthy 
of  acceptance  as  a  mere  history,  or  as  suggesting  a  the- 
ory, than  are  those  statements  in  books  of  travel  which 
have  been  so  lavishly  used,  we  may  fairly  enough  refer 
to  the  view  which  it  gives  of  the  origin  of  civilization, 
and  claim  for  it  respectful  consideration.  It  expressly 
states  that  "man  was  created  in  the  image  of  God" — 
that  is,  that  he  was  not  only  intellectually  but  morally 
great ;  that  he  acted  from  holy  motives ;  that,  in  his 
highest  and  most  ennobling  vocation,  in  fellowship  or 
communion  with  the  Being  whose  spiritual  image  he 
bore,  he  had  an  exhaustless  source  of  true  happiness. 
By  spirit,  human  character  is  to  be  determined,  and  not 
by  the  industrial  or  the  fine  arts,  or  by  any  external 
details  whatever ;  these  may  shed  light  on  the  general 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  169 

attainments  of  a  community  in  certain  directions,  but 
there  may  be  a  large  amount  of  civilization  without  as 
well  as  with  them.  This  depends  on  the  possession  of 
certain  distinct  ideas  of  man's  relations  to  God  and  to 
his  fellow-men.  Let  him  but  know  that  "God  is,  and 
that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him," 
and  the  external  circumstances  will  gradually  adjust 
themselves  to  expanding  secular  knowledge  in  both  its 
principles  and  their  applications.  The  civilization  of  our 
first  parents,  in  its  relation  to  this  knowledge,  was  very 
high ;  but  in  its  relation  to  mechanical  art  it  was  at  the 
outset  necessarily  very  low — as  low,  probably,  as  can  be 
conceived.  It  is  not  required  for  our  argument  to  infer, 
with  Archbishop  Whately,  that  God  taught  them  any 
mechanical  arts.  He  gave  them  quick  perceptions,  ready 
and  accurate  reasoning  power,  and  consequently  facility 
of  application,  according  to  the  exigencies  of  their  life. 
And  this  is  all  that  was  necessary,  in  our  subsequently 
changed  condition,  for  the  origin  of  those  complicated 
arrangements  which  are  summarized  by  the  term  civili- 
zation. In  clearly  defined  ideas  of  the  being  and  charac- 
ter of  the  Deity,  in  a  sense  of  dependence  on  God,  in  the 
consciousness  of  needed  forgiveness  and  acceptance,  and 
in  the  recognition  of  the  claims  upon  us  of  our  brother 
man,  we  have  the  basis  of  a  permanent  civilization.  Na- 
tions that  have  risen  to  greatness,  and  been  deemed  civ- 
ilized, reached  their  commanding  height  only  through  the 
measure  of  truth  which  they  held  even  in  partially  dis- 
torted forms,  but  empires  perished  when  at  last  the  truth 
was  wholly  lost. 


j70  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

False  religions  can  live  only  by  the  truth  which  vital- 
izes them,  and  national  histories  are  continued  only  on 
the  same  conditions.  The  splendor  of  Egypt,  Chaldaea, 
Persia,  Greece,  Rome,  evanished  in  gloom  only  when 
almost  every  moral  principle  had  been  buried  in  corrup- 
tion ;  and  national  resuscitation  became  possible  only 
through  a  restoration  from  without  of  vitalizing  and  con- 
trolling truths. 

All  this  is  assumed  in  the  Bible.  It  does  not  formally 
expound  the  conditions  of  civilization.  Its  descriptions 
and  its  precepts  take  for  granted  this  recognition  of 
moral  principles  by  both  individuals  and  nations.  Men 
may  read  the  Bible  and  miss  this  somewhat  subtle  perva- 
ding influence,  or  they  may  detect  and  feel  it  from  the 
outset.  A  thoughtful  American  writer  has  thus  referred 
to  this  difference:  "The  tilings  in  which  an  elevated 
social  economy  reveals  itself  to  political  wisdom,  are  not 
at  all  obtrusive  upon  the  foreground  of  Scriptural  thought. 
Wealth,  art,  literature,  science,  urbanity  of  manners,  do- 
mestic comfort,  institutions  of  charity,  free  governments, 
these  are  not  the  salient  themes  here,  either  of  argument 
or  of  promise.  A  reformer  might  study  pages  of  this 
volume,  covering  a  thousand  years  of  history,  and  not 
discover  that  inspired  minds  ever  thought  of  any  such 
sort  of  thing ;  yet  a  wise  man,  instructed  in  God's  wis- 
dom, may  traverse  the  same  ground,  and  so  discern  the 
gravitating  of  principles  towards  social  results  as  almost 
to  imagine  that  inspired  minds  thought  of  nothing  else."* 

*  Lecture  by  Rev.  Austin  Phelps,  D.  D.     Boston  Lectures.     "  Christi- 
anity and  Skepticism,"  p.  38.     1S71. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  171 

Eastern  nations  retaining  some  such  truths  as  we 
have  referred  to,  represent,  in  varied  forms,  a  civilization 
different  from  that  of  Western  nations.  Of  them  all  it 
may  be  said  that  they  are  fixed  ;  their  modes  of  thought, 
their  manners,  their  arts,  their  superstitions,  are  cast  in 
unvarying  moulds,  which  must  be  broken  to  give  the 
freedom  which  brightens  the  West ;  and  the  Bible,  with 
its  varied  truth  and  impelling  force,  is  the  one  power,  we 
believe,  which  is  .destined  to  do  it.  What  it  is  doing  in 
Western  it  will  also  do  for  Eastern  nations.  When  it  is 
studied,  and  is  accepted  as  a  regulating  book,  it  will  speed- 
ily accomplish  what  neither  commerce  and  peaceful  inter- 
course, nor  the  turmoil  of  war,  can  ever  achieve :  the 
truth  shall  make  these  nations  free  in  spirit  and  free  in 
the  introduction  and  enjoyment  of  the  useful  and  orna- 
mental arts.  The  Bible  alone  is  the  fontal  civilizing 
force  in  the  world,  and  it  is  gradually  changing  the  his- 
torical character  of  our  race. 

The  chief  defect  in  the  expositions  of  recent  theorists 
is  their  omission  to  record  the  influences  of  Bible  truth, 
and  those  revolutions  in  feeling,  thought,  and  outward 
life  which  Christianity  has  so  strikingly  accomplished. 
As  historical  elements,  these  are  incomparably  worthier 
of  acknowledgment  than  many  of  the  traditions  and  cus- 
toms which  they  delineate  with  such  diligence  and  care. 
And  not  until  all  the  more  prominent  intellectual  and 
moral  results  which  Christianity  is  evolving  are  taken  into 
account,  as  well  as  the  peculiar  phenomena  of  barbarism, 
can  we  have  an  approach  to  such  a  philosophic  discussion 
of  the  whole  subject  as  its  vital  importance  demands. 


1 72  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

This,  so  far,  is  mere  assertion,  but  so  also  is  the  state- 
ment on  the  other  side,  that  we  are  descended  from  some 
creature  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man,  and  that  the 
whole  complex  system  of  modern  civilization  has  been 
slowly  evolved  from  some  creature  without  a  single  idea 
in  its  head.  This  is  assertion  against  assertion,  it  is 
true,  with  this  important  difference,  however,  that  we 
include  in  our  system  the  facts  of  Christianity  as  pro- 
cesses in  history.  But  let  us  here  carefully  examine 
those  views  which  are  stated  in  support  of 

II.    RECENT  THEORIES  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY. 

Sunken  as  are  the  Fuegians  and  Bosjesmen,  they  are 
not  low  enough  for  our  supposed  origin.  The  ordinary 
term  savage  does  not  carry  us  far  enough  back  in  history, 
nor  far  enough  down  in  the  scale  of  being,  for  that  dis- 
honoring origin  which  has  been  assigned  to  us.  Whether 
that  creature  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  man  was  below 
or  above  the  ape  and  the  gorilla,  does  not  clearly  appear. 
Our  parentage  is  uncertain.  The  beings  with  which  or 
with  whom  our  race  began,  are  represented  as  but  one 
remove  from  irrational  animals.  Man's  instincts,  intelli- 
gence, reason,  habits,  are  so  near  those  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals, that  it  is  delicate  to  separate  them  ;  and  from  such 
a>  beginning,  they  tell  us,  have  arisen  the  intellect,  the 
reason,  the  science,  the  arts,  and  the  prospects  of  this 
nineteenth  century. 

The  various  stages  in  the  long  process  have  been  arti- 
ficially marked.  The  prehistoric  ages  have  been  divided 
into  indefinite  periods,  dependent  for  their  distinction  on 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  i73 

the  chief  materials  used  in  war,  or  for  agricultural  and 
domestic  purposes.  These  periods,  representing  advan- 
cing stages  in  civilization,  are,  according  to  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  (i)  the  Palaolithic — that  is,  the  old-stone  pe- 
riod, when  men  used  and  could  use  only  rough  stones ; 
(2)  the  Neolithic,  or  new-stone  period,  when  men  had 
taste  and  skill  enough  to  polish  their  stone  implements 
and  make  flint-headed  weapons  ;  (3)  the  Bronze  period, 
when  armor  and  cutting  instruments  of  every  sort  were 
made  of  bronze  ;  and  (4)  the  Iron  period,  when  the  in- 
struments and  implements  of  former  ages  have  given 
place  generally  to  those  of  iron,  and  represent  chiefly  the 
civilization  of  the  century  in  which  we  live. 

This  division  has  a  certain  degree  of  historical  appo- 
siteness,  but  we  deny  that  there  is  evidence  adequate  to 
prove  that  man  has  gradually  passed  through  them  all 
upward  to  the  highest  pinnacles  of  the  present  age. 

The  process  of  growth  or  expansion  has  been  variously 
described,  but  by  none  with  greater  succinctness  and  feli- 
city than  by  the  late  Archbishop  Whately.  Although 
holding  an  opposite  conclusion,  he  does  full  justice  to 
the  reasoning  of  his  opponents  : 

"  It  was  long  commonly  taken  for  granted,  not  only 

by  writers  among  the  ancient  heathens,  but  by  modern 

authors,  that  the  savage  state  was  the  original  one,  and 

that   mankind,  or  some   portion  of  mankind,   gradually 

raised  themselves  from  it  by  the  unaided  exercise  of  their 

own  faculties.  .  .  .     You  may  hear  plausible  descriptions 

given  of  a  supposed  race  of  savages  subsisting  on  wild 

fruits,  herbs,  and  roots,  and  on  the  precarious  supplies  of 

15* 


i74  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

hunting  and  fishing  ;  and  then,  of  the  supposed  process 
by  which  they  emerged  from  this  state,  and  gradually 
invented  the  various  arts  of  life,  till  they  became  a  deci- 
dedly civilized  people.  One  man,  it  has  been  supposed, 
wishing  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  roaming  through 
the  woods  in  search  of  wild  plants  and  roots,  would  be- 
think himself  of  collecting  the  seeds  of  these,  and  culti- 
vating them  in  a  plot  of  ground  cleared  and  broken  up 
for  the  purpose.  And  finding  that  he  could  thus  raise 
more  than  enough  for  himself,  he  might  agree  with  some 
of  his  neighbors  to  exchange  a  part  of  his  produce  for 
some  of  the  game  or  fish  taken  by  them.  Another  man, 
again,  it  has  been  supposed,  would  contrive  to  save  him- 
self the  labor  and  uncertainty  of  hunting,  by  catching 
some  kind  of  wild  animals  alive  and  keeping  them  in  an 
enclosure  to  breed,  that  he  might  have  a  supply  always 
at  hand.  And,  again,  others,  it  is  supposed,  might  de- 
vote themselves  to  the  occupation  of  dressing  skins  for 
clothing,  or  of  building  huts  or  canoes,  or  of  making 
bows  and  arrows,  or  various  kinds  of  tools,  each  exchan- 
ging his  productions  with  his  neighbors  for  food.  And 
each,  by  devoting  his  attention  to  some  one  kind  of  man- 
ufacture, would  acquire  increased  skill  in  that,  and  would 
strike  out  new  inventions. 

"  And  then,  these  supposed  savages  having  in  this 
way  become  divided  into  husbandmen,  shepherds,  and 
artisans  of  several  kinds,  would  begin  to  enjoy  the  vari- 
ous advantages  of  division  of  labor,  and  would  advance 
step  by  step  in  all  the  arts  of  civilized  life."* 
*  "Exeter  Hall  Lectures,"  pp.  9-1 1.  1854,  1855.  James  Nisbet  &Co. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  175 

This  statement,  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  gradual 
division  of  labor,  may  be  accepted  as  probably  correct ; 
but  the  question  at  issue  is  not,  Whence  the  savage  ?  that 
has  been  already  discussed  by  us,  but,  Supposing  the  sav- 
age existent,  whence  these  processes  ?  from  natural  im- 
pulses or  intuitions,  or  from  external  teachings  by  a 
higher  tribe  ?  "  They  cannot  be  originated  by  savages," 
says  the  one  party.  "  They  can  be  originated  by  no 
other,"  say  their  opponents. 

"  Such  descriptions  as  the  above,"  says  Whately,  "of 
what  is  supposed  has  actually  taken  place,  or  of  what 
possibly  might  take  place,  are  likely  to  appear  plausible  ; 
but,  on  close  examination,  their  suppositions  are  found  to 
be  completely  at  variance  with  history,  and  inconsistent 
with  the  character  of  real  savages.  Such  a  process  of 
invention  and  improvement  as  that  just  described,  is 
what  we  may  safely  say  never  did  and  never  can  possi- 
bly take  place  in  any  tribe  of  savages  left  wholly  to 
themselves." 

Without  committing  ourselves  to  the  strong  affirmation 
that  such  a  "  process  never  can  possibly  take  place,"  it  is 
enough  to  inquire  whether  any  such  process  has  ever  been 
known  to  have  taken  place  among  "savages  left  wholly 
to  themselves."  In  that  "left  wholly  to  themselves," 
lies  the  essential  difference  between  the  two  systems  or 
theories  of  civilization. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  and  the  ethnologists  whom  he 
represents,  have  set  themselves  to  prove  the  opposite 
of  Whately's  conclusion,  and  both  their  scholarship  and 
character  entitle  their  opinions  to  our  best  consideration. 


176  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Leaving  out  of  view,  in  the  meantime,  the  teachings 
of  Scripture,  let  us  test  their  theory  on  its  own  merits, 
and  endeavor  to  judge  of  it  on  the  basis  of  history  and 
science,  as  we  should  do  in  the  case  of  any  theory  not 
running  counter  to  any  cherished  belief  or  tradition. 

Two  questions  at  this  stage  suggest  themselves : 
first,  Is  the  test  or  standard  adopted  sufficient  to  deter- 
mine the  difference  between  barbarism  and  civilization  ? 
and,  second,  Suppose  the  standard  accepted,  do  the  facts 
of  history  establish  their  theory  ? 

The  standard  is  unsuitable.  Fundamentally,  the 
theory  is  erroneous,  for  the  following,  among  other  rea- 
sons : 

i.  It  is  defective,  in  making  the  industrial  and  me- 
chanical arts  alone  the  standard  by  which  to  test  degrees 
of  civilization.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  common  test ;  but 
the  one  adopted,  though  in  many  respects  good,  is  so 
inadequate  in  important  particulars,  that  it  cannot  war- 
rant comprehensive  conclusions.  The  theory  fails  to 
recognize  personal  culture  apart  from  its  mere  material 
expression,  and  therein  lies  a  fatal  weakness ;  for  high 
culture  and  many  of  the  "aspirations  and  sympathies  of 
comparatively  refined  life,  may  subsist  amid  the  very 
rudest  industrial  arts.  Measured  by  the  marvellous  at- 
tainments of  this  Iron  period  of  ours,  the  ages  of  Homer 
and  Herodotus  would  be  gloomily  barbarous.  Had  their 
writings  been  lost;  had  the  "Iliad"  of  the  one  and  the 
history  of  the  other — productions  to  which  our  best 
British  scholars  and  statesmen  have  given  so  much  of 
their  leisure  and  cultivated  thought — never  been  heard 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  177 

Of ;  and  had  only  the  rude  remains  of  these  early  times 
come  to  us  in  some  loose  fragments,  we  should  have  been 
resting  on  utterly  erroneous  conclusions  regarding  both 
the  period  and  the  people. 

"  No  proof,  if  proof  there  be,  that  primeval  man  was 
ignorant  of  the  industrial  arts,  can  afford  the  smallest 
presumption  that  he  was  also  ignorant  of  duty,  or  igno- 
rant of  God.  This  is  a  fundamental  objection  to  the 
whole  scope  of  Sir  John  Lubbock's  argument.  It  inter- 
poses an  impassable  gulf  between  his  premises  and  his 
conclusion."*  This  objection  Sir  John  Lubbock  has 
attempted  to  obviate,  but  without  success.  While  we 
can  acknowledge  gradual  advance  from  lower  to  higher 
degrees  of  skill  in  mechanical  arts,  without  admitting 
that  any  one  state  of  art  necessarily  represents  finer 
feelings,  nobler  thoughts,  and  a  more  generous  or  holier 
life  than  the  other,  he  and  others  are  so  restricted  by  a 
narrow  theory,  that  they  cannot  include  all  the  facts  of 
intellectual  and  moral  life. 

The  ancient  Germans,  Gauls,  and  Britons,  as  descri- 
bed by  Caesar  and  Tacitus,  were  savages ;  yet  they  "  cul- 
tivated their  land,  kept  cattle,  employed  horses  in  their 
wars,  and  made  use  of  metals  for  their  weapons  and  in- 
struments." They  had  some  of  the  commonest  evidences 
of  civilization,  and  we  are  not  in  circumstances  to  esti- 
mate fairly  their  personal  culture,  but  we  may  infer  that 
it  was  even  higher  than  these  evidences  indicate. 

If  we  make  industrial  arts  alone  the  test  of  civiliza- 
tion in  Scotland  and  England,  we  should  arrive  at  most 
*  "Man,  Primeval,"  by  tha  Duke  of  Argyll,  p.  132. 


178  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

erroneous  conclusions  regarding  even  comparatively  re- 
cent times.  And  were  we,  indeed,  at  this  moment,  to 
estimate  the  character  of  the  people  in  some  districts  of 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  by  their  dwellings,  their  agri- 
culture, and  their  simple  habits,  we  should  completely 
misunderstand  and  wrong  them.  We  should  possibly 
represent  as  ignorant  and  barbarous,  numbers  of  the 
most  intelligent  of  our  countrymen,  and,  viewed  in  the 
light  of  morality  and  religion,  the  most  civilized  of  the 
British  Empire,  because  their  dwellings  are  the  abodes 
of  truth,  and  honor,  and  piety.  Though  their  hamlets 
or  clachans  may  be  little  better  than  a  series  of  archi- 
tectural hovels,  the  inmates  are  notwithstanding  brave, 
courteous,  and  refined ;  they  need  not  the  dramas  of 
Shakespeare  or  the  epics  of  Milton  to  give  them  their 
share  of  the  common  splendors  of  their  country ;  for 
while  they  may  have  these,  they  have,  besides,  that 
higher  lustre  which  is  invariably  diffused  by  the  Psalms 
of  David,  the  blending  poetry,  prophecy,  and  theology  of 
Isaiah,  the  narratives  of  the  evangelists  ;  and  the  doc- 
trines of  the  great  Teacher  who  spake  truth  as  never 
man  spake  it. 

2.  The  theory  is  defective  also  in  not  making  suffi- 
cient allowance  for  the  coexistence  of  barbarism  and 
civilization  at  the  same  period  in  different  parts  of  the 
world.  Facts  gathered  in  a  single  narrow  district,  or  in 
contiguous  territories,  have  been  made  the  basis  of  plau- 
sible inference  and  the  source  of  elaborate  proof,  when 
the  facts  of  distant  territories  and  corresponding  periods 
would  have  shown  other  processes  and  another  result 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  179 

When  Caesar,  for  example,  was  carrying  his  triumphs 
onward  to  Britain,  through  the  comparatively  rude  dwell- 
ings of  Gaul,  splendid  palaces  glittered  in  Eastern  em- 
pires ;  and  long  before  his  time,  when  Egypt,  Assyria, 
and  Persia  were  powerful  in  their  military  equipment 
and  refined  in  their  art,  savage  tribes  hovered  on  their 
verge,  or  wandered  in  distant  regions. 

While  we  find  in  the  history  of  the  world,  contempo- 
raneously, in  different  kingdoms,  the  art  evidences  of 
barbarism  and  civilization,  we  have  them  no  less  dis- 
tinctly coexistent  in  the  same  district  or  kingdom.  They 
are  not  connected  as  growth,  part  with  part.  Vases, 
cylinders,  and  engraved  signets  have  been  discovered, 
mingling  with  knives  of  flint  or  chert,  stone  hatchets, 
hammers,  nails,  and  adzes.  In  Mexico  and  other  parts 
of  America,  the  facts  of  a  high  civilization  antedate  those 
of  ignorance  and  degradation.  Periods  so  commingle 
facts  which  should  on  this  theory  lie  ages  apart,  that 
reasoning  founded  on  their  historical  sequence  must  be 
received  with  the  greatest  hesitation  and  care. 

3.  It  is  perfectly  clear,  judging  from  facts  in  the 
present  age,  that  emigrants  from  civilized  communities 
may  have  speedily  lapsed  into  barbarism.  The  indus- 
trial arts  of  Britain  are  high  ;  but  how  many  wanderers, 
leaving  their  homes  and  the  refinement  of  their  country, 
may  betake  themselves  to  distant  regions  without  the 
least  fitness  to  introduce  any  of  either  the  mechanical  or 
the  fine  arts  ?  How  few,  comparatively,  of  our  emigra- 
ting families  know  anything  whatever  of  those  indus- 
trial agencies  which  have  made  their  country  great ;  or,  if 


i So  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

they  knew  them,  could  turn  them  to  practical  account  ? 
Skilled  artisans  would  soon  find  their  experience  value- 
less ;  and  with  the  first  generation  the  refinements  of 
another  land  and  an  early  home  would  disappear ;  and 
thus  might  a  savage  race  have  its  origin  or  first  roots  in 
no  ordinary  civilization.  That  both  prehistoric  and  his- 
toric times  have  seen  such  changes,  cannot  be  doubted. 
"Even  now,"  says  Wilson,  "the  skill  of  the  American 
miner  has  to  be  imported,  and  the  copper  miners  of  Lake 
Superior  are  almost  exclusively  derived  from  Cornwall, 
or  the  mining  districts  of  Germany.  . .  .  The  old  Dutch- 
man exported  his  bricks  across  the  Atlantic,  wherewith 
to  found  his  new  Amsterdam  on  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 
son ;  and  the  English  colonist,  with  enterprise  enough 
to  mine  the  copper  veins  of  Lake  Superior,  still  seeks  a 
market  for  the  ore  in  England,  and  imports  thence 
both  the  engineers  and  the  iron  wherewith  to  bridge 
his  St.  Lawrence."  After  adverting  to  the  migration  of 
Asiatic  tribes,  he  adds :  "  Their  industrial  arts  were  all 
to  begin  anew ;  and  thus,  wherever  we  recover  traces  of 
the  first-  footprints  of  the  old  Nomad  in  his  wanderings 
across  the  Continents  of  Asia  and  Europe,  ...  we  find 
that  the  Stone  period  is  not  necessarily  the  earliest  hu- 
man period,  but  only  the  rudimentary  condition  to  which 
man  had  returned,  or  may  return  again,  in  the  inevitable 
deterioration  of  a  migratory  era."*  Such  processes  and 
such  results  have,  doubtless,  often  come  and  gone.  Al- 
though skilled  races  in  prehistoric  ages  have  not  left  us 
art  fabrics  or  other  products  to  indicate  their  degree  of 

*  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  by  Daniel  Wilson,  vol.  I,  pp.  143,  144. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  1S1 

civilization,  and  emigrating  bands  cannot  stamp  on  dis~ 
tant  regions  the  material  impress  of  that  civilization  from 
which  they  departed,  both  have  been  real,  and  brought 
into  the  solitudes  of  their  chosen  abodes  the  refined  feel- 
ings and  the  social  intercourse  of  their  early  homes. 
This  refinement  no  art  structure  or  fabric  could  embody 
or  represent ;  but  in  a  generation  or  two  it  would  proba- 
bly be  completely  lost,  although,  in  some  instances,  it 
may  have  run  for  centuries  through  patriarchal  tribes  of 
olden  times,  and  not  a  trace  of  their  intellectual  vigor, 
and  moral  worth,  and  kindliest  sympathies  can  now  be 
found. 

It  is  only  by  a  comprehensive  and  careful  survey  of 
the  facts  which  Asia  and  America,  as  well  as  Europe, 
are  giving,  that  any  reliable  conclusions  can  be  gained. 
The  attention  has  hitherto  been  too  exclusively  fixed  on 
European  evidence  or  facts,  while  the  key  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  whole  has  been  lying  for  ages  in  the 
East.  In  short,  this  classification  of  Periods,  while  very 
convenient,  and  in  some  respects  just,  is  so  devoid  of 
scientific  accuracy  that  it  cannot  be  accepted  as  the 
basis  of  conclusions  regarding  the  tvhole  human  family. 
It  demands  special  geographical  and  physical  conditions 
for  the  start  of  the  first  human  pair,  without  which  the 
first  two  periods — the  Palaeolithic  and  the  Neolithic — 
might  form  no  distinctive  part  of  human  history.  There 
are,  for  instance,  vast  territories  in  which  stones  are  as 
scarce  as  in  others  metals  are.  South  American  tribes 
have  been  thrilled  into  ecstasy  by  finding  pebbles ;  and 

in  the  wide  alluvial   plains  of  Chaldasa,  stones  are   not 

16 


1 32  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

available  for  common  implements.  If,  in  some  such  dis- 
tricts of  these,  the  first  pair  and  their  successors  had  run 
their  history,  the  stone  age  probably  could  not  have  been 
known,  as  those  who  wandered  into  stone  districts  should 
have  made  such  progress  as  to  dispense  with  them,  at 
least  in  their  rough  and  unhewn  state.  Men  living  in  a 
comparatively  stoneless  territory,  like  that  of  Mesopota- 
mia, may  indeed  possess  those  qualities  of  a  high  civiliza- 
tion which,  though  but  very  slightly  visible  in  mechani- 
cal arts,  may  yet  go  forth  in  genial  public  combinations, 
in  kindly  companionship,  elevated  thought,  and  religious 
observances. 

Again,  it  has,  curiously  enough,  been  concluded  by 
Sir  John  Lubbock  that  savages  do  not  sink ;  that  they 
rise,  but  do  not  fall  back.  "It  is  a  common  opinion,"  he 
says,  "that  savages  are,  as  a  general  rule,  only  the  miser- 
able remnants  of  nations  once  more  civilized ;  but  al- 
though there  are  some  well-established  cases  of  national 
decay,  there  is  no  scientific  evidence  which  would  justify 
us  in  asserting  that  this  is  generally  the  case.  No  doubt 
there  are  many  instances  in  which  nations,  once  progres- 
sive, have  not  only  ceased  to  advance  in  civilization,  but 
have  even  fallen  back.  Still,  if  we  compare  the  accounts 
of  early  travellers  with  the  state  of  things  now  existing, 
we  shall  find  no  evidence  of  any  general  degradation. 
The  Australians,  Bushmen,  and  Fuegians  lived,  when 
first  observed,  almost  exactly  as  they  do  now.  In  some 
savage  tribes  we  even  find  some  traces  of  improvement ; 
the  Bachapins,  when  visited  by  Burchell,  had  just  intro- 
duced the  art  of  working  in  iron  ;  the  largest  erection  in 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  183 

Tahiti  was  constructed  by  the  generation  living  at  the 
time  of  Captain  Cook's  visit ;  and  the  practice  of  canni- 
balism had  been  recently  abandoned :  again,  out-riggers 
are  said  to  have  been  recently  adopted  by  the  Andaman 
Islanders ;  and  if  certain  races — as,  for  instance,  some  of 
the  American  tribes — have  fallen  back,  this  has  perhaps 
been  due,  less  to  any  inherent  tendency,  than  to  the  inju- 
rious effect  of  European  influence.  Moreover,  if  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  etc.,  had 
ever  been  inhabited  by  a  race  of  men  more  advanced 
than  those  whom  we  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  as  the 
aborigines,  some  evidence  of  this  would  surely  have  re- 
mained ;  and  this  not  being  the  case,  none  of  our  travel- 
lers having  observed  any  ruins  or  'other  traces  of  advanced 
civilization,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  sufficient 
reason  for  supposing  these  miserable  beings  to  be  at  all 
inferior  to  the  ancestors  from  whom  they  are  descended."* 
It  would  not  be  an  easy  task  to  find  a  single  passage 
in  which  assumptions,  unsustained  by  the  slender  facts 
adduced,  are  made  the  chief  support  of  a  generalization 
so  sweeping  as  that  savages  do  not  sink  ;  and,  indirectly 
of  the  inference,  that,  without  external  aid,  they  rise. 
Sir  John  finds  in  the  accounts  of  early  travellers,  as  com- 
pared with  the  present  state  of  things,  no  evidence  of 
any  general  degradation  ;  but  the  fact  is,  that  those  to 
whom  he  refers — the  Australians,  the  Bushmen,  and  the 
Fuegians — cannot  sink  lower  without  disappearing  alto- 
gether. Should  they  not,  on  this  theory,  be  ere  now 
showing   tendencies  upwards  ?      He  quotes  the  Bacha- 

*  '•  Prehistoric  Man,"  pp.  337.  338.     First  Edition. 


1 84  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

pins,  Tahitians,  and  Andaman  Islanders,  as  giving  some 
evidences  of  improvement;  but  he  cannot  prove,  what  is 
specially  needed  in  the  discussion,  that  they  were  not 
visited  by  some  who  introduced  improvements,  or  that 
they  had  not  received  some  stray  traveller  who  stimula- 
ted them  to  new  exertions.  Admitting  that  there  might 
be  occasional  movements  somewhat  in  advance  of  sheer 
barbarism,  they  are  not  sufficient  to  counterbalance  all 
the  facts  which  prove  sameness  in  savage  life.  His  con- 
necting the  degradation  and  decay  of  American  tribes 
with  European  influences,  is  a  mere  assumption.  If  the 
germ  of  progress  really  exists  in  savage  life,  contact  with 
a  civilized  race  should  quicken  it  and  give  it  scope.  His 
inference  that,  if  the  miserable  aborigines  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand  had  ever  supe- 
rior ancestors,  traces  of  their  existence  should  be  found, 
is  altogether  unwarranted  ;  for  it  is  quite  possible,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  that  those  who  have  emigrated  from 
civilized  communities,  and  have  carried  with  them  to 
desolate  or  unpeopled  regions  a  knowledge  of  some  of  the 
arts,  might  soon  lose  them,  because  inapplicable,  or,  in 
their  new  circumstances,  useless ;  and  in  a  generation 
or  two  the  families  would  be  found,  in  harmony  with  the 
resources  of  their  country,  subsisting  like  savages,  de- 
pendent on  fruits,  on  fishing,  on  hunting,  or  occupying 
a  somewhat  higher  sphere  as  keepers  of  sheep  or  cat- 
tle. Nothing,  in  all  probability,  has  been  more  common 
in  the  past,  than  that  two  or  three  families  having  been 
swept  from  the  civilization  of  Asia  to  some  of  the  neigh- 
boring islands  or  more  distant  continents,  and  having 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  185 

been  cut  off  from  all  intercourse  with  their  parent  com- 
munity, should  leave  behind  them  as  successors  those 
who,  in  a  generation  or  two,  would  roam  exultingly  in  the 
wild  freedom  of  the  savage.  To  expect  traces  of  early  civ- 
ilization in  such  outlying  regions,  is  contrary  to  the  prob- 
abilities of  history,  and  shows  to  what  weak  reasoning  a 
theorist  will  have  recourse,  even  when  he  is  distinguished 
by  merit  as  well  as  accomplished  and  independent ;  but 
to  expect  traces  of  civilization  in  the  central  regions  of 
early  emigration,  is  perfectly  natural  on  our  side  of  this 
question,  and  we  are  not  only  bound,  but  are  prepared,  to 
show  them. 

It  is  not  a  little  surprising  to  find  so  deliberate  a 
thinker  as  Sir  John  Lubbock  asserting  that  there  is  no 
scientific  evidence  which  would  justify  us  in  inferring 
that,  as  a  general  rule,  savages  are  the  remnants  of  na- 
tions once  civilized.  Of  course,  if  he  means  by  this  that 
civilized  nations  once  existed  where  savages  are  now 
found,  as  ruins  lie  on  the  site  of  an  old  castle,  no  one  will 
assert  that  this  is  the  "general  rule."  The  ancestors  of 
savage  tribes  have  wandered  to  new  regions  and  sunk  ; 
and  a  strong,  if  not  indeed  an  irresistible  argument  in 
favor  of  this  view,  is  to  be  found  in  the  almost  universal 
traditions  which  have  been  known  to  prevail  in  nations 
and  tribes  the  most  remote  from  one  another.  Their 
arts  have  perished  where  their  traditions  have  survived. 
With  the  histories  of  Egypt,  Babylon,  Greece,  and  Mex- 
ico, in  his  hand,  it  is  perplexing  to  hear  a  philosophic 
observer  still  demanding  scientific  evidence  of  degrada- 
tion and  decay.  _ 


1 86  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

But  why  should  savages  be  stationary,  while  nations 
once  civilized  retrograde  ?  What  barrier  to  descent  is 
there  in  the  life  of  the  savage  ?  What  physical  or  men- 
tal obstacle  is  it  that  checks  his  downward  career  ?  If 
man  has  been  developed  from  some  creature  not  worthy 
to  be  called  a  man,  why  may  he  not  relapse  into  that  un- 
worthy creaturehood  ?  Scientific  evidence  is  decidedly 
in  favor  of  such  a  recurrence.  Civilization  is,  on  this 
theory,  correspondent  to  domestication  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals, and,  as  is  well  known,  when  they  are  left  free,  they 
not  only  return  to  their  early  modes  of  life,  but  assume 
their  first  appearance.  The  horse,  when  permitted  to 
sweep  without  restraint  over  the  wide  pampas  of  South 
America,  shows  not  new  but  original  qualities  ;  and  even 
the  stiff,  slow,  lumbering  hog,  losing  in  freedom  "  the 
lethargy  of  the  sty,  exhibits  the  fierce  courage  of  the 
wild  boar."  Then,  why  is  it  that  man,  left  free  and  un- 
tutored, does  not  sink  in  accordance  with  this  law,  even 
lower  than  Fuegian  or  Bushman,  and  exhibit  the  wild 
freedom  of  that  strange  progenitor  which  has  not  a  name  ? 

This  should  be  the  natural  result,  and  indeed,  also,  in 
one  sense,  the  safest.  "  To  exist  at  all,"  says  the  Duke 
of  Argyll,  "  this  creature  must  have  been  more  animal  in 
its  structure  than  man.  That  structure  could  not  be 
changed  to  less  of  animal  and  more  of  man,  without 
danger  to  his  existence.  If  reason  obtained  a  great  start 
in  advance,  the  theory  of  development  is  destroyed.  Inter- 
position— which  they  deny — would  be  implied,  and  even 
then,  with  such  advantages  as  many  tribes  do  now  pos- 
sess, life  is  most  precarious.     These  are  reckoned  too 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  187 

high  for  the  start  in  the  race,  and  if  the  lower  animal 
structure  best  suited  these  animals,  it  is  not  likely  that, 
by  natural  selection,  they  should  ever  become  higher. 
The  difficulties  here  represented  are  insuperable."  If, 
by  any  process,  man  should  reach  so  high  a  stage  of  im- 
provement as  we  have  indicated,  his  risks,  his  greater 
bodily  weakness,  and  his  tendency  in  common  with  all 
animals  to  revert  to  the  original  type,  should  bring  him 
back  to  the  early  creaturehood  from  which  he  had  un- 
wisely emerged. 

Whately's  demand  for  historical  evidence  of  ascent  to 
civilization  by  any  one  savage  tribe  or  nation,  has  not 
been  met  by  any  ethnologist.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has 
endeavored  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  has  failed. 
He  objects  to  the  demand,  as,  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
impossible,  for  the  monuments  are  wanting.  By  monu- 
ments, it  would  be  difficult,  it  is  true,  to  prove  the  race 
to  have  been  originally  savage  ;  but  there  has  been  am- 
ple time,  if  indeed  the  germs  of  progress  exist  in  bar- 
barous races,  to  find  somewhere  in  rude  incipient  monu- 
ments evidence  of  vitality  and  growth,  and  some  proba- 
bility of  future  eminence.  But  such  evidence  has  not 
been  offered,  nor  is  it  ever  likely  to  be  found.  There  is 
not  a  vestige  of  proof  that  those  who  lived  in  Europe  in 
the  stone  age,  rose  to  that  of  bronze  by  their  own  unaid- 
ed skill ;  but  there  is  very  clear  and  very  decided  proof 
that  other  races,  breaking  in  upon  the  stone-implement 
communities,  did  introduce  their  bronze  instruments,  and 
that  they  in  their  turn  received  iron  implements  from  an 
irruption  of  succeeding  races. 


1 83  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Historically,  stone  implements  shculcl  be  followed  by 
those  of  copper  and  of  tin  separately,  for  it  is  only  after 
both  had  been  in  use  for  some  time  that  we  should  expect 
the  union  of  the  two,  that  is,  of  the  copper  and  the  tin, 
in  bronze  utensils.  The  bronze,  it  is  true,  would  be 
speedily  adopted,  as  Sir  William  Wilde  suggests,  in  pref- 
erence to  copper  or  tin,  for  general  use,  because  it  is 
harder  and  sharper ;  but  still,  sufficient  time  must  have 
elapsed  to  diffuse  such  instruments  as  would  have  proved 
their  introduction  by  invention,  if  there  had  been  in  any 
region  such  material  historical  growth  as  the  theory 
assumes.  But  it  is  not  so.  Bronze  instruments  appear 
suddenly  in  the  midst  of  stone  implements,  without  the 
intermediate  stage  of  separate  vessels  of  copper  and  of 
tin.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  candidly  admitted  that  the 
absence  of  implements  made  either  of  copper  or  of  tin, 
indicates  that  "  the  art  of  making  bronze  was  introduced 
into,  not  invented  in  Europe."*  But  the  concession  is 
historically  fatal  to  his  theory.  It  invalidates  the  whole 
of  his  reasoning  as  to  continuity  of  progress  from  bar- 
barism to  civilization.  In  Europe,  these  periods  are  not 
a  growth,  they  are  a  series  of  distinct  additions. 

New  ideas  and  practices  were  infused  by  some  other 
nations.  The  East  is  the  only  probable  source,  and  their 
introduction  expresses  a  common  origin,  for  the  instru- 
ments are  not  only  generally,  but  perfectly  alike. 

Mr.  Wright,  whose  authority  is  unquestionable,  has 
declared  that  "the  bronze  swords  or  celts,  whether  in 
Ireland,  in  the  far  West,  in  Scotland,  in  distant  Scandi- 
*  "  Prehistoric  Times,"  Second  Edition,  p.  58. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  189 

navia,  in  Germany,  or,  still  farther  east,  in  the  Sclavonic 
countries,  are  the  same — not  similar,  but  identical."  Pro- 
fessor Nilsson  traces  the  origin  of  bronze  implements  to 
the  Phoenicians ;  and  we  know  that  in  the  East,  bronze 
was  common  at  least  800  b.  c,  for  both  Homer  and  Hesiod 
speak  of  them,  and  by  an  older  pen  than  either  held,  it  is 
declared  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Genesis  :  "And  Zillah, 
she  also  bare  Tubal-cain,  an  instructor  of  every  artificer 
in  brass  and  iron."  Egypt  in  Joseph's  time  had  her 
sharp  and  polishing  instruments,  and,  in  Solomon's  time, 
the  Sidonians  were  skilled  in  hewing  timber,  and  the 
Syrians  were  cunning  to  work  all  "  works  in  brass."  It 
is  admitted  by  all  that  brass  here  means  bronze.  More 
than  three  thousand  years  ago  bronze  was  common  in 
the  East,  and  its  sudden  appearance  in  the  West,  in  Ire- 
land, for  instance,  and  in  Scandinavia,  not  only  gives  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  civilization  being  dependent  on  external 
influences  for  its  progress,  but  sheds  light  on  the  question 
of  time,  and  guides  us  to  at  least  approximate  dates.  In 
short,  there  has  been  a  complete  breakdown  in  the  effort 
to  prove  that,  in  the  course  of  ages,  the  development  has 
been  continuous  from  the  rough  stone  edge  to  the  smooth, 
from  that  to  bronze,  and  from  bronze  to  iron. 

Since  Archbishop  Whately  sifted,  with  the  skill  of  a 
severe  logician,  all  the  historical  evidence  which,  up  to 
his  time  had  been  published,  there  has  been  little  added 
in  the  way  of  discovery  or  fresh  observation.  The  facts, 
in  the  main,  are  old ;  the  collocation  only  is  new  ;  and 
any  intelligent  reader  is  competent  to  judge  of  both  as 
matters  of  testimony,  and  of  the  inferences  which  have 


190  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

been  deduced  from  them.  If  it  had  been  shown,  in  even 
one  instance,  that  any  savage  race  had  risen  to  a  recog- 
nizable degree  of  civilization,  without  the  introduction  of 
new  ideas  and  a  higher  example,  there  would  be  pre- 
sumptive evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  theory ;  yet  only 
presumption,  unless  it  could  also  be  shown  that  they  had 
been  so  long  sunken,  that  probably  no  recuperative  power 
lingered  from  a  previous  state.  In  the  descent  from  civ- 
ilization to  barbarism,  a  nation  or  tribe  may  preserve  this 
recuperative  force,  when,  in  the  history  of  individuals  or 
of  isolated  tribes,  it  might  be  lost  as  they  passed  into 
new  territories.  The  ancient  Gauls  and  Germans,  for 
example,  preserved  this  recuperative  tendency ;  and  if 
such  as  the  Australians  or  Fuegians  ever  gave  any  indi- 
cation of  self-improvement  or  tribe-culture,  we  should 
have  the  presumptive  evidence  which  we  desiderate ;  but 
even  that  has  not  been  forthcoming,  and  as  yet  Whately's 
demand  remains  unmet. 

Those  who,  through  close  and  varied  intercourse,  have 
had  the  best  means  of  judging  of  the  condition  and  ca- 
pabilities of  savage  races,  have  decided  against  this  plau- 
sible theory.  Humboldt,  with  his  usual  caution,  has 
said :  "  The  important  question  has  not  yet  been  resolved, 
whether  the  savage  state,  which  even  in  America  is  found 
in  various  gradations,  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  society  about  to  rise,  or  whether  it  is  not  rather 
the  fading  remains  of  one  sinking  amid  storms,  over- 
thrown and  shattered  by  overwhelming  catastrophes.  To 
me  the  latter  seems  nearer  the  truth  than  the  former." 
And  Sir  George  Grey,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  British 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  191 

Association,  firmly  opposed  the  theory.  He  has  had 
varied  opportunities  of  observation,  and  in  his  view  no 
advances  have  been  made  by  really  savage  tribes.  The 
stationary  remain  stationary,  for  they  cannot  extricate 
themselves,  nor  do  they  appear  to  have  any  decided  de- 
sire to  change  their  condition. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  prosecute  farther  this  part  of  the 
subject,  as  enough  has  been  stated  to  show  that  the  his- 
torical evidence  is,  in  its  incompleteness,  similar  to  that 
of  Darwin  for  the  advance  of  animal  life  and  its  fabrics , 
the  links  are  wanting  where  we  should  expect  to  find 
them,  and  where  their  appearance  is  indispensable  to 
prove  the  theory.  Its  advocates  have,  with  more  or  less 
frankness,  confessed  their  inability  to  account  for  those 
facts  and  principles  on  which  Christian  apologists  rest 
their  historical  argument  for  the  truth  of  the  Scripture 
record  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  civilization. 


192  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER    X. 

WERE  OUR  FIRST  PARENTS  SAVAGES?  (CONTINUED) RE- 
CENT THEORIES  AS  TO  THE  ORIGIN  OF  CIVILIZATION 
CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  MENTAL  FACULTIES, 
THE  MORAL  SENSE,  AND  RELIGION. 

Christians  have  a  right  to  protest  against  the  arraying  of  probabilities 
against  the  clear  teachings  of  Scripture.  It  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the 
evil  that  is  done  by  eminent  men  throwing  the  weight  of  their  authority 
on  the  side  of  unbelief,  influenced  by  a  mere  balance  of  probabilities  in 
one  department,  to  the  neglect  of  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  a  differ- 
ent kind.  .  .  .  Thus  they  often  decide  against  the  Bible  on  evidence  that 
would  not  determine  an  intelligent  jury  in  a  suit  for  twenty  shillings. — 

PROFESSOR  C.  HODGE. 

In  attempting  to  deduce  those  mental  and  moral  re- 
sults which  characterize  modern  civilization  from  some 
creature  that  had  not  even  a  head  in  which  to  treasure  a 
single  idea,  theorists  have  greater  difficulties  to  overcome 
than  when  they  endeavor  to  connect  man's  body  with  the 
lowest  mollusk.  No  one  refuses  to  acknowledge  the  ex- 
istence of  intelligence,  memory,  and  some  measure  of 
reasonable  power  in  many  of  the  lower  animals ;  but 
such  an  admission  stops  far  short  of  connecting  the  hu- 
man mind,  by  lineal  descent,  with  intellectual  germs  in 
some  gorilla,  or  snail,  or  worm,  and  of  discovering  in  that 
lowliest  origin  not  only  the  foundation  of  the  complex 
fabric  of  our  civilization,  but  the  spring  of  all  those  ideas 
of  immortality,  responsibility,  private  and  public  duties, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  193 

eternity,  and  God,  which  shed  a  richer  splendor  over 
man's  history  than  that  which  all  the  sciences  and  arts 
united  can  of  themselves  create.  The  advocates  of  this 
theory  have  utterly  failed  in  their  attempt  to  include  in 
their  system,  and  to  account  for,  the  practical  lessons  of 
Christianity.  Its  lofty  morality,  its  sublime  doctrines, 
and  its  "  pure  and  undefiled  religion,"  are  left  without 
an  origin  or  an  aim.  As  facts,  if  as  nothing  else,  theo- 
rists are  bound  to  account  for  them,  or,  at  least,  as  an 
outcome  from  previous  ideas.  Let  us  examine  the  facts 
which  they  select  from  the  natural  history  of  the  lower 
animals  and  of  the  lowest  man,  to  constitute  the  basis  of 
ultimate  intellectual  and  moral  improvement.  What  evi- 
dence is  there  that  the  ideas  and  the  habits  of  the  lower 
animals  and  the  most  sunken  savages,  so  commingle  as 
to  make  this  theory  even  plausible  ?  Is  there  a  vestige 
of  proof  to  show  that  there  has  been  an  intermingling  of 
notions  or  practices,  and  that,  through  or  by  them,  man 
has  emerged  to  that  lowest  platform  on  which  there  was 
the  first  beam  of  civilization  ?  What  data  do  they  present 
to  warrant  our  acceptance  of  the  sweeping  conclusion 
that  Psychology,  Mental  Philosophy,  Ethics,  and  Practi- 
cal Religion,  or  the  lessons  of  Christianity,  are  deducible 
from  even  the  most  accomplished  of  the  lower  animals  ? 

To  that  issue  the  theorist  is  brought,  and  he  is  bound 
to  face  it.  If  he  cannot  include  in  his  exposition  all  the 
higher  forms  of  Feeling,  Thought,  and  Law,  he  should 
acknowledge  his  failure,  and  that  we  are  justified  in 
rejecting  his  conclusions. 

Darwin,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
17 


1 94  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

evidently  anticipating  such  legitimate  demands  as  these, 
have  resolutely  attempted  to  satisfy  them ;  and,  in  their 
respective  fields,  have  adduced  their  strongest  proofs  and 
best  reasoning.  By  placing  in  immediate  connection 
their  interlacing  and  sometimes  conflicting  expositions 
of  each  topic,  we  shall  obtain  a  definite  view  of  what  has 
been  most  influential  in  deciding  their  opinion,  and  be 
the  better  able  to  do  justice  to  them  and  ourselves  in 
forming  a  deliberate  conclusion. 

But  to  follow  this  course  is  to  find  the  very  same  kind 
of  defective  reasoning  in  reference  to  the  descent  of  the 
human  mind  and  the  growth  of  civilization,  of  which  we 
complained  when  discussing  the  proof  for  the  descent  of 
the  human  body  from  some  primordial  germ  which  start- 
ed into  life  millions  of  years  ago.  There  are  the  same 
unbridged  chasms,  the  same  absence  of  necessary  links, 
the  same  inadequacy  of  data. 

Three  questions  require  to  be  answered.  First,  Are 
there  any  facts  to  show  the  close  connection  of  the  mind 
and  habits  of  the  highest  of  the  lower  animals  with  the 
very  lowest  of  the  human  race  ?  Second,  Is  there  any 
evidence  of  a  moral  nature  in  the  lower  animals  which 
can,  even  plausibly,  be  regarded  as  the  foundation  of 
man's  moral  constitution  ?  And  Third,  Out  of  what 
condition  is  religion  evolved  ?  On  what  foundation  does 
this  theory  place  it  ?  What  is  its  influence  on  civiliza- 
tion ?" 

Darwin  himself  has  answered  these  questions  with 
such  qualifications,  that  it  is  surprising  to  see  him  en- 
deavoring to  fasten  together  important  conclusions  by  a 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  195 

chain,  broken  and  dissevered  through  the  absence  of  its 
central  links. 

Let  us  next  consider — 

III.    CIVILIZATION  IN  RELATION  TO  MAN'S    MENTAL  FACUL- 
TIES. 

Among  British  Naturalists  of  the  highest  standing, 
there  is  a  general  concurrence  of  opinion  as  to  the  gulf 
between  the  intellectual  faculties  of  man  and  whatever 
degree  of  mind  may  show  itself  in  the  lower  animals.  It 
is  impossible  to  connect  the  two.  Professor  Huxley- 
speaks  "  of  the  great  gulf  which  intervenes  between  the 
lowest  man  and  the  highest  ape  in  intellectual  power,"* 
"  of  the  immeasurable  and  practically  infinite  divergence 
of  the  human  from  the  Simian  stirps/'f  and  "of  the  pres- 
ent enormous  gulf  between  them."$  "At  the  same  time," 
he  repeats,  "  no  one  is  more  strongly  convinced  than  I 
am  of  the  vastness  of  the  gulf  between  civilized  man  and 
the  brutes  ;  or  is  more  certain  that,  whether  from  them 
or  not,  he  is  assuredly  not  0/"them."§ 

In  reference  to  this  vast  break,  Darwin  is  no  less 
explicit  than  Huxley.  When  he  is  describing  the  intel- 
lectual distance  between  man  and  those  creatures  which 
are  nearest  him  in  brain-organization  and  force,  he  de- 
clares the  difference  to  be  enormous.  "No  doubt,"  he 
says,  "the  difference  in  this  respect  is  enormous,  even  if 
we  compare  the  mind  of  one  of  the  lowest  savages,  who 
has  no  words  to  express  any  number  higher  than  four, 
and  who  can  use  no  abstract  terms  for  the  commonest 

*  "Man's  Place  in  Nature,"  p.  102.  t  Ibid,  Foot-note,  p.  103. 

X  Ibid,  p.  102.  §  Ibid,  p.  1  ro. 


196  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

objects  or  affections,  with  that  of  the  most  highly  organ- 
ized ape.  The  difference  would,  no  doubt,  still  remain 
immense,  even  if  one  of  the  higher  apes  had  been  im- 
proved or  civilized  as  much  as  a  dog  has  been  in  compar- 
ison with  its  parent  form,  the  wolf  or  jackal."*  Notwith- 
standing this  "immense"  distance  between  the  two,  and 
the  consequent  want  of  the  least  evidence  of  any  lineal 
relations  whatever,  he  has  amusingly  assumed,  in  his 
"  Origin  of  Species,"  that  he  has  discovered  such  a  men- 
tal connection  of  man  with  the  lower  animals  as  shall 
form  the  basis  of  a  new  system  of  Psychology.  Mental 
science  will  start  on  a  new  track  in  search  of  other  ob- 
jects than  our  metaphysicians  have  hitherto  kept  in  view. 
His  statement  is,  "  In  the  distant  future,  I  see  open  fields 
for  far  more  important  researches.  Psychology  will  be 
based  on  a  new  foundation,  that  of  the  necessary  acquire- 
ment of  each  mental  power  and  capacity  by  gradation. 
Light  will  be  thrown  on  the  origin  of  man  and  his  his- 
tory."! The  contests  of  metaphysicians  will  cease,  even 
when  the  phrenologist  has  transferred  his  examination  of 
the  supposed  compartments  of  the  human  brain  to  the 
nervous  tissues  of  the  lower  and  lowest  animals,  and  new 
triumphs  will  indeed  give  unexpected  lustre  to  man's  his- 
tory, when  he  has  educed  from  a  material  body  that  which 
is  non-material,  and  from  the  perishing  that  which  is 
imperishable.  We  have  here  a  theory  involving  the  com- 
plete and  immediate  overthrow  of  that  system  of  mental 
science  in  which  Mind  is  regarded  as  a  substance  distinct 

*  "  Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  i,  p.  34. 

t  "  Origin  of  Species,"  pp.  577,  578.     1869. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  197 

from  the  body,  and  which  has  been  developed  by  some 
of  the  most  accurate  and  powerful  thinkers  of  recent 
times,  advocated  on  the  possible  existence  of  facts  of 
which  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence.  Mr.  Wallace, 
who  in  originality  and  independence  as  a  thinker  and  a 
naturalist  is  Mr.  Darwin's  compeer,  rejects  his  theory 
regarding  the  descent  of  our  mental  faculties.  There  are 
faculties  and  conceptions  for  which,  in  his  view,  it  pro- 
vides no  explanation.  "But  there  is,"  he  says,  "another 
class  of  human  faculties  that  do  not  regard  our  fellow- 
men,  and  which  cannot,  therefore,  be  thus  accounted  for. 
Such  are  the  capacity  to  form  ideal  conceptions  of  space 
and  time,  of  eternity  and  infinity  ;  the  capacity  for  in- 
tense artistic  feelings  of  pleasure  in  form,  color,  and  com- 
position, and  for  those  abstract  notions  of  form  and  num- 
ber which  render  geometry  and  arithmetic  possible. 
How  were  all  or  any  of  these  faculties  first  developed, 
when  they  could  have  been  of  no  possible  use  to  man 
in  his  early  stages  of  barbarism  ?  How  could  '  Natural 
Selection,'  a  survival  of  the  fittest  in  the  struggle  for 
existence,  at  all  favor  the  development  of  mental  powers 
so  entirely  removed  from  the  material  necessities  of  sav- 
age men,  and  which,  even  now,  with  our  comparatively 
high  civilization,  are,  in  their  farthest  developments,  in 
advance  of  the  age,  and  appear  to  have  relation  rather  to 
the  future  of  the  race  than  to  its  actual  status  ?"*  These 
questions  are  unanswerable,  and  expose  the  indisputable 
inadequacy  of  the  foundation  on  which  Mr.  Darwin  has 
raised  his  complicated  structure. 

*  Wallace  on  "Natural  Selection,"  pp.  351,  352. 
17* 


i98  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Professor  Tyndall,  starting  with  the  idea  of  the  de- 
velopment of  life  from  the  star  dust,  comes  to  the  same 
conclusion,  and  places  it  before  us  with  such  vividness 
that  it  cannot  soon  be  forgotten.  "  For  what  are  the 
core  and  essence  of  this  hypothesis  ?  Strip  it  naked,  and 
you  stand  face  to  face  with  the  notion  that  not  alone  the 
more  ignoble  forms  of  animalcular  or  animal  life,  not 
alone  the  noble  forms  of  the  horse  and  lion,  not  alone  the 
exquisite  and  wonderful  mechanisms  of  the  human  body, 
but  the  human  mind  itself — emotion,  intellect,  will,  and 
all  these  phenomena,  were  once  latent  in  a  fiery  cloud. 
Surely  the  mere  statement  of  such  a  notion  is  more  than 
a  refutation."*  Whether  life  has  its  origin  in  the  "star 
dust,"  or  in  some  germs  at  a  later  date,  the  process  is 
the  same,  and  the  idea  is  equally  absurd.  We  say  absurd, 
because  there  is  not  a  trace  of  lineal  descent  by  which  we 
can  possibly  connect  with  the  highest  and  best-informed 
ape  or  gorilla  the  intellect  of  a  Newton,  a  Bacon,  a  Shake- 
speare, or  a  Milton.  Darwin  himself  has  admitted  that 
the  facts  are  wanting  and  the  connections  hidden.  We 
must,  therefore,  be  excused  for  rejecting  his  inferences, 
and  refusing  to  take  shelter  in  a  fabric  which  is  con- 
fessedly without  a  foundation. 

This  view  is  supported  by  Bunsen,  when  he  says, 
"  No  length  of  time  can  create  a  man  out  of  a  monkey, 
because  it  can  never  happen  ;  for  it  is  a  logical  contra- 
diction to  suppose  the  growth  of  reason  out  of  its  oppo- 
site."! 

*  "Fragments  of  Science,  and  Scientific  Thought,"  p.  163. 
t  "Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  vol.  4,  p.  54. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  199 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add  here,  to  the  admis- 
sions of  naturalists  themselves,  and  to  the  inference  of  a 
philosopher,  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  readiest  wits  and 
keenest  intellects  of  his  time.  "  What,"  exclaimed  Syd- 
ney Smith,  "  has  the  shadow  or  mockery  of  faculties 
given  to  beasts  to  do  with  the  immortality  of  the  soul  ? 
It  is  no  reason  to  say  that,  because  they  partake  in  the 
slightest  degree  of  our  nature,  they  are  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  of  our  nature.  I  confess  I  have  such  a  marked 
and  decided  contempt  for  the  understanding  of  every 
baboon  I  have  yet  seen — I  feel  so  sure  the  blue  ape  with- 
out a  tail  will  never  rival  us  in  poetry,  painting,  and 
music — that  I  see  no  reason  whatever  why  justice  may 
not  be  done  to  the  few  tatters  of  understanding  which 
they  may  really  possess." 

IV.    CIVILIZATION   IN  RELATION  TO    THE    MORAL    SENSE    OR 
CONSCIENCE. 

To  the  second  question,  also,  Darwin  has  given  a  no 
less  decided  reply.  Earnest  as  he  is  in  claiming  for  the 
lower  animals  the  possession  of  mental  powers,  he  aban- 
dons the  idea  of  their  morality,  and  proceeds  to  build  an 
ethical  system  for  Man  without  any  recognizable  founda- 
tion. "As  we  cannot  distinguish  between  motives,  we 
rank  all  actions  of  a  certain  class  as  moral,  when  they 
are  performed  by  a  moral  being.  A  moral  being  is  one 
who  is  capable  of  comparing  his  past  and  future  actions 
or  motives,  and  of  approving  or  disapproving  of  them. 
We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals have  this  capacity.      Therefore,  when  a  monkey 


200  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

faces  danger  to  rescue  its  comrade,  or  takes  charge  of  an 
orphan  monkey,  we  do  not  call  its  conduct  moral."*  He 
admits  that  he  finds  no  morality  among  the  lower  ani- 
mals;  but  he  claims  amoral  sense  for  man,  and  assumes 
that  it  has  been  educed  from  them  by  some  kind  of  crea- 
tive force  in  social  instincts  and  sympathies ;  yet  why  or 
how  the  same  social  instincts  which  he  traces  in  the  lower 
animals  have  failed  to  create  in  them  any  germ  of  con- 
science, he  does  not  explain.  He  tells  us  that  "the 
social  instincts  both  of  man  and  the  lower  animals  have 
no  doubt  been  developed  by  the  same  steps  ;"  and  he 
infers,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  one  has  become  moral, 
while  the  other  has  remained  non-moral ;  nor  does  he 
improve  his  exposition  when  he  adds,  "According  to  the 
view  given  above,  the  moral  sense  is  fundamentally  iden- 
tical with  the  social  instincts,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
lower  animals,  it  would  be  absurd  to  speak  of  these  in- 
stincts as  having  been  developed  from  selfishness,  or  for 
the  happiness  of  the  community,"!  Assuredly,  if  the 
moral  sense  is,  as  he  says,  "  fundamentally  identical  with 
the  social  instincts,"  an  incipient  conscience  or  "moral 
sense"  should  be  found  manifesting  itself  in  the  instincts 
of  the  lower  animals.  If  his  theory  of  "descent"  is 
worth  anything,  it  should  be  marked  by  such  a  connec- 
tion as  we  have  indicated.  That  it  is  not,  is  the  exposure 
of  another  unbridged  chasm  in  the  path  of  descent.  In 
snmming  up  the  evidence  for  man's  moral  sense,  he  in- 
troduces elements  for  the  existence  of  which,  on  his  the- 
ory, he  cannot  possibly  account,  when  he  says,  "  Ulti- 
*  "  Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  I,  pp.  88.  89.  t  Ibid.,  p.  98. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  201 

mately,  a  highly  complex  sentiment,  having  its  first  origin 
in  the  social  instincts,  largely  guided  by  the  approbation 
of  our  fellow-men,  ruled  by  reason,  self-interest,  and,  in 
later  times,  by  deep  religious  feelings,  confirmed  by  in- 
struction and  habit,  all  combined,  constitute  the  one 
moral  sense  or  conscience."*  What,  then,  of  those  tribes 
which  have  for  generations  been  destitute  of  instruction 
and  deep  religious  feelings  ?  Have  they  consequently 
been  destitute  of  conscience  ?  and  have  there  really  been 
whole  races  of  mankind  without  morality,  like  the  beasts 
which  perish  ?  We  thoroughly  repudiate  the  idea  of  con- 
science being  in  the  least  dependent  on  social  instincts 
for  its  very  existence,  and  on  self-interest  for  its  exercise. 
And  if  it  is  absurd,  as  he  says  it  is,  "to  speak  of  their 
instincts  as  having  been  developed  for  the  happiness  of 
the  community,"  is  it  not  equally  absurd  to  speak  of  them 
as  having  "  certainly  been  developed  for  the  general  good 
of  the  community"  ?  If  it  is  true  that  the  lower  animals 
have  the  same  social  instincts  with  man,  why  do  they  not 
look  ahead,  also,  to  the  "general  good"  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  give  some  joint  token  of  "a  moral  sense,"  at 
least  in  germ  ?  If  the  social  instincts  are  indeed  funda- 
mentally identical  in  the  lower  animals  and  man,  why 
are  the  results  so  widely  different  ?  The  facts  which  he 
adduces  are  obviously  incoherent,  and  his  reasoning  is 
illogical. 

Herbert  Spencer  strikes  in  at  this  juncture  with   an 
ingenious  hypothesis,  which   he    explains  and  vindicates 
with  his  wonted  fervor  of  thought  and  charm  of  diction. 
*  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  1,  p.  165. 


2C2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

He  has  boldly  accounted  for  the  origin  of  the  "  moral 
sense,"  without  a  single  fact  on  which  to  rest  his  suppo- 
sition. He  demands  from  us  the  belief  that  "experiences 
of  utility"  and  "  nervous  modifications"  have  been  trans- 
mitted for  ages,  and  have  been  so  accumulated  as  ultimate- 
ly to  create  or  "  become  in  us  certain  faculties  of  moral  in- 
tuition." His  words  are,  "  To  make  my  position  fully  un- 
derstood, it  seems  needful  to  add  that,  corresponding  to  the 
fundamental  propositions  of  a  developed  moral  science, 
there  have  been,  and  still  are,  developing  in  the  race,  cer- 
tain fundamental  moral  intuitions  ;  and  that,  though  these 
moral  intuitions  are  the  result  of  accumulated  experiences 
of  utility,  gradually  organized  and  inherited,  they  have 
come  to  be  quite  independent  of  conscious  experience.  I 
believe  that  the  experiences  of  utility,  organized  and  con- 
solidated through  all  past  generations  of  the  human  race, 
have  been  producing  corresponding  nervous  modifications, 
which,  by  continued  transmissions  and  accumulation, 
have  become  in  us  certain  faculties  of  moral  intuition, 
active  emotions  responding  to  right  and  wrong  conduct, 
which  have  no  apparent  basis  in  the  individual  experi- 
ences of  utility."*  By  this  fine  phraseology,  we  are  lia- 
ble to  be  imposed  on,  and  to  take  it  for  granted  that  it 
is  sustained  by  facts  in  natural  history  and  mental  science  ; 
while  the  truth  is,  it  is  destitute  of  the  least  support.  In 
the  history  of  those  animals  whose  instincts  and  experi- 
ences are  best  known  to  man  through  succeeding  ages, 
there  is  not  a  vestige  of  improvement ;  and  when  we 
turn  to  the  records  of  the  human  race,  there  is  not  a  single 

*  Letter  to  Mr.  Mill  in  Bain's"  Mental  and  Moral  Science,"  p.  722. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  203 

line  of  evidence  to  prove  that,  in  the  remotest  generations} 
there  was  only  an  incipient  moral  sense,  and  that  suc- 
ceeding generations  show  advances'  in  sensitiveness  and 
strength  of  conscience  apart  from  revealed  truth. 

This  utilitarian  hypothesis,  which  is  the  theory  of 
natural  selection  applied  to  the  mind,  Mr.  Wallace  re- 
gards as  inadequate  to  account  for  the  development  of 
the  moral  sense  in  savage  man.  The  same  deficiency 
which  we  noticed  in  accounting  for  the  development  of 
the  mental  faculties,  is  met  when  we  endeavor  to  trace 
the  origin  of  the  moral  sense  to  experiences  of  utility  ; 
"For,"  he  says,  "although  the  practice  of  berevolence, 
honesty,  or  truth,  may  have  been  useful  to  the  tribe  pos- 
sessing these  virtues,  that  does  not  at  all  account  for  the 
peculiar  sanctity  attached  to  actions  which  each  tribe 
considers  right  or  moral,  as  contrasted  with  the  very 
different  feelings  with  which  they  regard  what  is  merelv 
useful.  .  .  .  The  utilitarian  sanction  for  truthfulness  is 
by  no  means  very  powerful  or  universal.  Few  laws  en- 
force it.  No  very  severe  reprobation  follows  untruth- 
fulness. In  all  ages  and  countries,  falsehood  has  been 
thought  allowable  in  love,  and  laudable  in  war  ;  while,  at 
the  present  day,  it  is  held  to  be  venial  by  the  majority  of 
mankind  in  trade,  commerce,  and  speculation."*  Cn  the 
utilitarian  hypothesis,  truthfulness  could  never  be  estab- 
lished or  strengthened  by  sanctity  or  a  sense  of  right ; 
yet  there  is  a  mystical  sense  of  wrong  attached  to  un- 
truthfulness even  by  whole  tribes  of  utter  savages.  Some 
of  the  barbarous  hill  tribes  of  India  are  distinguished  for 

*  Wallace  on  "Natural  Selection,"  p.  352. 


204  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

veracity.  There  are  those  of  them  who  "always  speak 
the  truth  ;"  and  Major  Jervis  says,  "the  Santals  are  the 
most  truthful  men  I  ever  met."  A  remarkable  fact 
against  the  arguments  for  utility  to  the  individual  is  given 
by  Mr.  Wallace  :  "  A  number  of  prisoners,  taken  during 
the  Santal  insurrection,  were  allowed  to  go  free  on  pa- 
role, to  work  at  a  certain  spot  for  wages.  After  some 
time  cholera  attacked  them,  and  they  were  obliged  to 
leave  ;  but  every  man  of  them  returned  and  gave  up  his 
earnings  to  the  guard.  Two  hundred  savages,  with  money 
in  their  girdles,  walked  thirty  miles  back  to  prison  rather 
than  break  their  word  !"  Mr.  Wallace's  own  experience 
among  savages  gave  him,  in  similar  instances,  convin- 
cing proof  of  truthfulness.  It  is  held  sacred  by  some 
tribes  and  despised  by  others  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  un- 
derstand how  "  experiences  of  utility"  should  leave  over- 
whelming impressions  in  some  tribes  and  none  in  others, 
or  create  in  some  "a  sanctity  which  overrides  all  consider- 
ations of  personal  advantage,  while  in  others  there  is 
hardly  a  rudiment  of  such  a  feeling."  Much  as  Mr. 
Wallace  holds  in  common  with  Darwin  and  Herbert 
Spencer,  he  repudiates  their  views  regarding  a  moral 
sense,  and  holds  it  to  be  an  essential  part  of  man's  na- 
ture, which  could  not  possibly  have  been  gradually 
evolved  from  the  experiences  of  utility,  transmitted 
through  many  generations. 

As  has  been  quite  conclusively  shown  by  Mr.  R. 
Holt  Hutton,  in  a  remarkable  paper  in  Macmillari s 
Llagazine,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever,  in  even  a  sin- 
gle instance,  of  such  a  transformation  as  Herbert  Spen- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  205 

cer  describes,  of  "  experiences  of  utility"  passing  into  an 
intuition  which  has  become  permanent  as  a  working  force 
in  the  human  race.  After  stating  that  craftiness  was 
justified  by  the  utility  of  its  consequences  in  the  time  of 
Homer's  wily  "  Ulysses,"  and  that  the  maxim,  "  Honesty 
is  the  best  policy,"  was  not  introduced  until  long  after 
the  most  imperious  enunciation  of  its  sacredness  as  a 
duty,  Mr.  Hutton  adds,  "  Three  thousand  years  ago  at 
least,  there  is  no  trace  of  any  such  sanction  for  honesty 
in  the  literature  which  gave  to  honesty  the  most  binding 
character.  '  He  that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart, 
who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity  nor  sworn 
deceitfully,'  '  he  that  sweareth  to  his  hurt,  and  changeth 
not,'  was  not  praised  at  that  date  as  the  gainer  of  all 
sorts  of  earthly  advantages  for  society,  but  as  alone 
able  to  enter  into  communion  with  God."  He  declares 
that  there  are  no  moral  notions,  however  sacred,  which 
have  not  been  promulgated  for  thousands  of  years,  and 
that  the  Bible  had  constantly  to  check  utilitarian  objec- 
tions to  their  authority,  and  "  utilitarian  excuses  for 
breaches  of  duty."  He  has  also  well  observed  that,  if 
anything  is  remarkable  in  the  history  of  morality,  it  is 
the  anticipatory  character  of  moral  principles,  the  inten 
sity  and  absoluteness  with  which  they  are  laid  down  ages 
before  the  world  has  approximated  to  that  ideal  which 
had  thus  early  been  asserted.* 

The  attempt,  indeed,  to  explain  away  the  human  con- 
science, or  to  reduce  it  to  dependence  on  the  shifting 

*  "Macmillan's  Magazine,"  July,  1S69.     See  also  chapter  9,  in  Mivart's 
"  Genesis  of  Species,"  for  an  able  discussion  of  "  Evolution  and  Ethics." 

18 


2o6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

experiences  of  utility,  and  on  modifications  of  the  ner- 
vous tissues,  has  proved  completely  abortive.  The  com- 
mon reasoning  in  support  of  the  hypothesis  has  been 
condemned  as  fallacious  by  influential  members  of  the 
same  school,  and  as  worthy  only  of  rejection. 

Sir  John  Lubbock  himself,  perceiving  the  serious  ob- 
jections to  which  Herbert  Spencer's  reasoning  is  exposed, 
has  not  hesitated  to  set  it  aside,  but  only  to  be  equally 
unsucessful  in  the  substitute  which  he  has  proposed. 
Repudiating  "utility  to  the  individual,"  he  advocates 
mithority  as  the  basis  or  origin  of  morality,  and  supports 
his  conclusion  by  a  reference  to  the  ideas  and  customs 
prevalent  in  Australia,  where  the  best  -of  everything  is 
by  law  given  to  the  old  men,  who  "naturally  lose  no  op- 
portunity of  impressing  their  injunctions  on  the  young," 
praising  those  who  conform,  and  condemning  those  who 
resist.  "Authority,"  he  adds,  "seems  to  me  the  origin, 
and  utility,  though  not  in  the  manner  suggested  by  Mr. 
Spencer,  the  criterion  of  virtue."*  Is  there  not  in  this 
brief  statement  very  surprising  confusion  ?  Authority 
must  have  right  and  wrong  for  its  guidance.  It  is  adminis- 
trative of  what  is  just.  It  does  not  originate  duties  and 
virtues,  it  is  ruled  by  them,  and  when  authority  is  abso- 
lute, we  have  only  two  conditions,  despotism  and  subjec- 
tion or  slavery.  The  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  must 
have  an  acknowledged  value  as  recognized  principles, 
before  "  authority"  could  enforce  their  application.  If 
we  accept  Sir  John  Lubbock's  historical  explanation, 
then  right  and  wrong,  like  Spencer's  experiences  of  util- 

*  "Origin  of  Civilization,"  pp.  272,  273. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  207 

ity,  must  ultimately  disappear  in  the  shifting"  claims  of 
sheer  selfishness. 

No  sooner  have  we  carefully  reviewed  the  principles 
and  inferences  which  Darwin,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  Sir 
John  Lubbock  respectively  advocate  as  the  basis  and 
explanation  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  civilization, 
than  we  are  convinced  of  their  helplessness,  as  either 
intellectual  or  moral  guides,  when  they  pass  from  the 
legitimate  and  severer  exercises  of  physical  science  and 
philosophy  into  a  domain  of  human  inquiry  which  can- 
not be  safely  traversed  without  believing,  as  a  first  truth, 
that  man  has  had  given  to  him,  as  part  of  his  complex 
nature,  a  separate  spiritual  existence,  which,  though  work- 
ing here  in  and  through  a  bodily  organization,  has  yet 
laws  and  conditions  which  are  not  dependent  on  the 
body,  but  are  related  to  the  "  unseen  and  eternal."  Rec- 
ognizing this  complex  nature,  the  bodily,  the  intellect- 
ual, and  the  moral,  and  classifying  on  a  distinct  basis 
their  separate  phenomena  and  laws,  we  find  that  the  con- 
clusions which  are  logically  reached  are  more  in  harmo- 
ny with  the  teachings  of  Scripture  than  with  the  theories 
of  skepticism. 

While  this  necessarily  brief  exposition  of  their  con- 
flicting opinions  as  to  the  very  foundation  of  civilization 
might  be  largely  extended,  enough  has  been  submitted 
to  show  how  valueless  are  the  speculations  of  even  pow- 
erful thinkers,  when  they  attempt  to  compress  within 
the  restricted  area  of  natural  science,  the  higher  and 
wider  laws  or  conditions  of  mental  science  and  moral 
philosophy. 


2o8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

V.    CIVILIZATION  IN  RELATION  TO  RELIGION. 

Still  more  signal  has  been  their  failure,  in  the  effort 
to  trace  the  origin  and  development  of  religion  from  the 
no-ideas  of  "  semi-human"  beings,  to  the  doctrines  and 
the  ennobling  practical  lessons  of  Christianity.  It  is  by 
no  means  enough  that  they  look  over  the  records  of  trav- 
ellers, and  collect  the  many  hasty  and  incongruous  be- 
liefs and  practices  which  they  have  detailed,  so  that  by 
an  arbitrary  collocation  they  may  make  plausible  their 
system  of  evolution.  Nor  is  it  enough  that  they  assert 
that  certain  advanced  religious  ideas  and  practices  may 
have  come  from  others  wbich  preceded  them.  They  are 
bound  to  demonstrate  their  necessarily  continuous  prog- 
ress, until  they  have  culminated  in  the  present  civiliza- 
tion of  Christendom.  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  Mr.  W.  B. 
Tylor  have  attempted  to  accomplish,  in  reference  to  the 
growth  of  religion,  what  Mr.  Darwin  has  failed  to  achieve 
in  the  psychological  history  of  our  race.  Beginning  with 
tribes  in  which  he  says  no  trace  of  religion  has  existed, 
Sir  John  afterwards  finds  a  rudimentary  religion,  and  at- 
tempts to  trace,  historically,  the  ideas  and  customs  ex- 
pressed by  Marriage,  Law,  and  Religion. 

Between  these  two  states  of  no-religion  and  rudimen- 
tary religion,  there  is  another  unbridged  gulf.  How  can 
religion  be  evolved  from  no-religion  ?  Throughout  his 
work  on  the  "  Origin  of  Civilization,"  and  that,  also,  of 
Mr.  W.  B.  Tylor  on  the  "  Early  History  of  Mankind," 
apart  from  the  amazing  industry  which  they  exhibit,  and 
regarded  simply  as  philosophical  discussions,  there  pre- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  209 

vails  a  surprising  incoherency.  Their  facts  do  not  sus- 
tain their  inferences.  In  tracing  the  highest  phases  of 
religious  thought  back  to  the  first  dreams  as  their  origin, 
Sir  John  Lubbock  nullifies  his  own  assertion  as  to  tribes 
existing  without  any  religion.  If  dreams  are  the  origin 
of  our  ideas  of  the  spirit-world,  and,  ultimately,  not  only 
of  the  Deity,  but  of  our  duties  to  him  and  our  fellow-men, 
is  it  possible  that  there  could  be  a  tribe  without  rudimen- 
tary religion,  since  they  all  dream  ?  Dogs  dream.  Dar- 
win's "  semi-human"  beings,  and  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
"  creatures  not  worthy  to  be  called  men,"  must  have  also 
had  their  dreams.  Why  not  their  religion  ?  If  we  ac- 
cept this  hypothesis,  we  cannot  admit  the  existence  of 
tribes  without  any  religious  notions  or  any  sense  of  duty. 
Mr.  Tylor  does  not  commit  himself  to  the  conclusion 
that  any  tribe  ever  existed  without  religion,  nor  does  he 
think  it  "  advisable  to  start  from  this  ground  in  an  inves- 
tigation of  religious  development."  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
such  tribes  have  not  been  found  any  more  than  tribes 
without  language,  or  living  without  fire.  The  "  asser- 
tion that  rude  non-religious  tribes  have  been  known  in 
actual  existence,  though  in  theory  possible,  and  perhaps  in 
fact  true,  does  not  at  present  rest  on  sufficient  proof, 
which,  for  an  exceptional  state  of  things,  we  are  entitled 
to  demand."*  This  statement,  though  very  cautiously 
expressed,  is  sufficiently  confirmatory  of  the  objection 
which  we  have  urged  to  the  whole  theory  as  being  de- 
fective in  essential  links.  Mr.  Tylor,  however,  agrees 
with  Sir  John  Lubbock  in  the  conclusion,  that  all  the 

*  "Primitive  Culture,"  vol.  I,  p.  378. 
18* 


2io  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

various  religious  beliefs  in  the  world,  with  their  compli- 
cated and  conflicting  systems  of  worship,  are  traceable 
to  dreams  and  shadows  ;  and  under  the  head  "  Animism," 
he  devotes  a  large  portion  of  his  elaborate  work,  "  Primi- 
tive Culture,"  to  the  elucidation  of  this  view.  It  were  a 
waste  of  time  to  enter  on  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the 
facts  which  Mr.  Tylor  and  Sir  John  Lubbock  have  piled 
together  as  the  foundation  on  which,  they  say,  the  reli- 
gious fabrics  of  the  world  are  resting.  In  their  very 
nature,  they  are  inadequate  to  account  for  the  clear, 
definite,  and  ennobling  ideas  which  appear  in  the  Chris- 
tian world,  ideas  which  cannot  possibly  be  the  product  of 
evolution  from  such  an  origin,  because  they  are,  in  some 
striking  instances,  not  only  repressive  but  repugnant  to 
man's  lower  nature,  in  which  their  history  is  assumed  to 
have  begun. 

With  considerable  ingenuity  it  has  been  attempted, 
on  this  theory,  to  trace  the  ideas  and  practices  through 
which  Marriage,  Law,  Spirit,  Immortality,  and  God,  have 
come  to  be  acknowledged  ;  but  the  difficulties  of  the 
method  have  forced  Sir  John  Lubbock  not  only  to  begin 
with  races  without  a  moral  sense,  and  without  morality, 
but  afterwards,  when  morality  has  been  established,  to 
dissociate  it  from  religion.  He  rejects  the  reasoning  of 
Mr.  Wallace  as  to  the  morality  of  certain  tribes,  inqui- 
ring, "  Does  it  prove  even  that  they  have  any  moral  sense 
at  all  ?"  and  adding,  "  Surely  not."*  He  quotes  Mr.  Dove 
regarding  the  Tasmanians,  to  show  that  they  are  entirely 
without  any  moral  views  and  impressions  ;  Mr.  Burton, 
*  "  Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  263. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  211 

to  show  that  in  Eastern  Africa  "conscience  does  not  ex- 
ist ;"*  and  other  travellers,  to  prove  the  same  non-mo- 
rality. But  giving  equal  time  to  the  tribes  and  nations 
of  the  world,  and  the  same  working  force  in  dreams  and 
shadows  to  produce  morality  and  religion,  why  is  it,  or 
how  is  it,  that  there  should  be  any  tribe  now  without 
either  or  both  ?  On  our  theory,  such  a  condition  is  easily 
accounted  for ;  on  his,  it  is  utterly  inexplicable.  It  is 
perfectly  clear  that  from  this  origin  no  fixed  principles 
can  be  educed  to  guide  the  world.  Without  religion, 
without  belief  in  a  higher  Being,  there  can  be  no  felt 
obligation,  and,  consequently,  no  permanent  code  of  mor- 
als. Each  individual  and  each  tribe  will  assert,  wherever 
it  is  possible  without  impunity,  its  own  supremacy.  The 
facts  which  Sir  John  Lubbock  quotes,  in  his  chapter  on 
Character  and  Morals,  confute  his  own  inferences  ; 
and  when  we  revert  to  his  chapter  on  Religion,  which 
somewhat  awkwardly  and  illogically  he  has  introduced 
before  that  on  Morals,  we  find  it  impossible  to  connect 
the  two  by  that  process  of  development  which  it  is  his 
aim  to  vindicate.  He  frankly  concedes,  in  the  following 
statement,  what  proves  ultimately  an  unbridged  gulf  be- 
tween "rudimentary  religion"  and  religion  as  it  is  in 
Christendom  :  "  It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  reli- 
gion, as  understood  by  the  lower  savage  races,  differs 
essentially  from  ours  ;  nay,  it  is  not  only  different,  but 
even  opposite.  Thus,  their  deities  are  evil,  not  good  ; 
they  may  be  forced  into  compliance  with  the  wishes  of 
man  ;  they  require  bloody,  and  rejoice  in  human  sacrifi- 

*  "  Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  264. 


212  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ces  ;  they  are  mortal,  not  immortal ;  a  part  of,  not  the 
author  of  nature,  they  are  to  be  approached  by  dances 
rather  than  by  prayers,  and  often  approve  what  we  call 
vice,  rather  than  what  we  esteem  as  virtue.  .  .  .  We  re- 
gard the  Deity  as  good  ;  they  (the  lower  races)  look  upon 
him  as  evil :  we  submit  ourselves  to  Him  ;  they  endeavor 
to  obtain  control  over  Him  ;  we  feel  the  necessity  of  ac- 
counting for  the  blessings  by  which  we  are  surrounded  ; 
they  think  the  blessings  come  out  of  themselves,  and 
attribute  all  evil  to  the  interference  of  malignant  be- 
ings.  * 

Mark  the  bearing  of  these  concessions.  The  religion  of 
the  lower  savages  not  only  differs  "  essentially  "  from  ours, 
but  is  its  "  opposite''  How  then  can  this  essentially  differ- 
ent and  opposite  religion  be  evolved  or  developed  from 
that  which  is  beneath  it,  or  lower  ?  Such  a  result  is  in- 
conceivable on  the  principle  which  runs  through  his  whole 
exposition  of  the  "  Origin  of  Civilization."  Further, 
how  is  it  that  we  regard  as  good  the  Deity,  whom  they 
all  regard  as  evil  ?  What  has  induced  this  great  change? 
How  is  it,  also,  that  while  there  are  gods  of  all  qualities, 
there  is  no  God  of  holiness  except  where  the  Bible  is  ac- 
knowledged ?  How  is  it  that  in  all  the  systems  of  reli- 
gion in  the  world,  apart  from  the  Bible,  there  is  endless 
confusion,  and  we  can  find  no  such  grand  and  compre- 
hensive description  as  that  with  which  from  childhood 
we  have  been  familiar — "  God  is  a  spirit,  infinite,  eternal, 
and  unchangeable  in  his  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness, 
justice,  goodness,  and  truth"  ?f 
*  "Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  116.     i  Shorter  Catechism,  Question  4. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  213 

It  is  difficult  to  give  anything  like  coherence  to  Sir 
John  Lubbock's  reasoning  on  this  subject,  for,  although 
he  speaks  of  the  "  religious  beliefs  of  the  higher  races,"* 
he  gives  to  the  Bible  no  higher  place  than  to  other  books. 
When  in  reference  to  sacrifices,  for  example,  he  quotes 
David's  saying,  "  I  will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house, 
nor  he-goats  out  of  thy  folds,"  Psa.  50 : 9,  he  accepts  the 
statement  only  as  in  advance  of  its  time,  and  he  accounts 
for  sacrifices,  even  in  Solomon's  time,  not  only  as  being 
necessary  "  in  the  then  condition  of  the  Jews,"  but  as 
being  part  of  the  "natural  process  of  development "f 
through  which  religion  must  pass.  The  animal  sacrifices 
which  he  finds  on  a  great  scale  among  the  Jews,  he  can 
understand  only  on  the  hypothesis  that  they  were  once 
usual ;  and  he  assumes,  by  a  forced  interpretation  of 
the  27th  chapter  of  Leviticus,  that  "  human  sacrifices 
were  at  one  time  habitual  among  the  Jews."$  He  en- 
tirely misses  the  meaning  of  the  Jewish  sacrifices,  and  fails 
to  connect  them  with  the  great  fact  in  the  New  Testament 
history  which  led  Paul  to  exclaim,  "  God  forbid  that  I 
should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Gal.  6:  14.  We  have  referred  to  these  somewhat  minute 
yet  essential  parts  of  his  exposition,  because  they  become 
incoherent,  and  in  part  unintelligible,  when  near  its  close 
he  says :  "  The  higher  faiths,  however,  merely  superim- 
posed themselves  on,  and  did  not  eradicate  the  lower 
superstitions."§  Whence  are  these  higher  faiths  ?  Are 
they  revealed  or  evolved  ?    And  how  came  they  to  super- 

*  "  Oi  igin  of  Civilization,"  p.  236.       t  Ibid.,  p.  237. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  243.         §  Ibid.,  p.  255. 


214  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

impose  themselves  ?  The  difficulty  is  not  lessened  when, 
in  the  next  paragraph  he  says :  "  Nay,  in  the  absence  of 
education,  not  even  Christianity  prevents  mankind  from 
falling  into  these  errors."*  He  does  himself  the  greatest 
possible  injustice  if  he  recognizes  Christianity  as  a  re- 
vealed system,  "  superimposing "  a  higher  faith,  revolu- 
tionizing the  world,  and  ennobling  it  with  the  fullest  pos- 
sible civilization,  and  yet  does  not  set  it  down  as  the 
basis  of  all  that  is  true,  permanent,  and  heavenly  in  the 
moral  and  religious  evolution  of  the  human  race. 

We  most  cordially  concur  in  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
statement  that  science  is  rendering  "immense  service" 
to  the  cause  of  religion  and  humanity,  and  that  true  sci- 
ence and  true  religion  cannot  be  really  opposed  to  one 
another ;  but  we  repudiate  the  idea  that  "  true  religion, 
without  science,  is  impossible."  St.  Peter  and  others,  in 
apostolic  times,  knew  little  of  physical  science,  for  it  is 
to  that  section  of  thought  Sir  John  Lubbock  refers ;  but 
he  will  not  deny  that  they  exemplified  true  religion,  and 
that  "  to  the  poor  "  the  gospel  was  preached. 

We  think  he  has  also  signally  failed  in  his  estimate  of 
the  power  of  religion,  and  of  the  tendencies  of  the  human 
heart  and  intellect,  when  he  declares  that  he  holds  the 
non-existence  of  religion  among  savage  races  to  be  their 
original  condition,  because  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a 
people  which  had  once  possessed  a  religion  should  ever 
lose  it."f  He  knows  little  of  the  condition  of  our  sunken 
population  in  large  towns,  who  can  write  thus  regarding 

*  "Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  256.     t  Ibid.,  p.  348;  see  also  "British 
Association  Reports,"  p.  121.     1867.     Dundee. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  215 

the  preservation  of  religious  beliefs  among  them.  Men 
may  not  be  able  to  forget  the  religion  which  they  were 
once  taught,  or  to  root  out  every  vestige  of  the  religious 
belief  which  they  have  deliberately  abandoned,  and  to 
that  extent  Sir  John  Lubbock's  declaration  may  be  true, 
that  "  Man  can  no  more  voluntarily  abandon  or  change 
the  articles  of  his  religious  creed  than  he  can  make  one 
hair  black  or  white,  or  add  another  cubit  to  his  stature  ;"* 
but  beyond  that  it  is  not  true,  and  gives  no  support  to  his 
theory.  Our  experience  of  the  helplessness  and  igno- 
rance of  those  who  have  been  allowed  to  grow  up  in  our 
great  cities,  unheeded  by  man  and  reckless  of  the  future, 
warrants  our  unqualified  rejection  of  this  too  generous 
statement.  In  an  examination  of  factory  workers  in 
which,  when  attending  the  Glasgow  Uuiversity,  we  took 
part  with  others,  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  most  enter- 
prising and  philanthropic  merchants  in  the  city,  the  igno- 
rance of  the  simplest  Bible  truths  which  prevailed,  was 
conclusive  proof  of  the  almost  incredible  rapidity  with 
which  a  people  might  sink  through  even  civilized  society, 
into  that  state  spoken  of  by  the  apostles  as  "  having  no 
hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world."f     They  had  not 

*  "  Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  348. 

t  Some  answered  that  "God  was  the  first  man;"  some  that  "Jesus  was 
the  first  man ;"  some  that  "  Eve  was  the  first  man  ;"  some  "  never  heard 
of  heaven  or  hell ;"  and  one  answered  that  she  "  kent  naething  about  thae 
things;"  some  were  ignorant  of  the  resurrection,  and  refused  to  believe  it; 
some  said  the  soul  would  die  with  the  body ;  and  one,  on  being  asked  sim- 
ple questions  about  Moses,  Joseph,  Daniel,  and  others,  said  she  "  did  not 
know  any  of  these  gentlemen."  The  examination  embraced  69S  workers, 
male  and  female,  between  13  and  21  years  of  age,  in  four  lactones,  viz., 
two  spinning,  one  steam-loom,  and  one  woollen,  and  was  conducted,  du 


2i6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

abandoned  their  religious  belief,  for  they  had  never  been 
taught  any,  and  their  "  social  instincts "  did  not  much 
assist  them.  Many  of  them  had  no  conception  whatever 
of  a  Deity,  of  future  reward  or  punishment,  of  heaven  or 
hell ;  and  they  were  as  ignorant  of  the  facts  of  Scripture 
as  if  they  had  been  brought  up  in  Timbuctoo  or  Unya- 
nyembe !  If  such  thorough  ignorance  of  all  religion  and 
its  duties  can  be  found  in  a  city  representing,  in  its  West- 
End,  the  luxury,  the  culture,  and  the  refinement  of  mod- 
ern civilization,  what  degradation  and  sunkenness  might 
we  not  expect  in  the  territories  of  neglected  savage  tribes  ? 
This  sunken  condition  is  by  no  means  exceptional.  The 
varied  experiences  of  town  missionaries  have  furnished 
similar  facts,  and  confirmed  the  conclusion  that  morally, 
intellectually,  and  physically,  man  does  often  sink  from  a 
higher  to  a  lower  level.  Men  lose  religious  knowledge, 
they  cease  to  believe  religious  truth,  and  they  fall  away 
from  religious  duty.  This  has  been  admirably  stated  by 
the  Duke  of  Argyll  ;*  and  there  is  perhaps  no  part  of 
Sir  John  Lubbock's  reply  which  is  weaker  than  his  treat- 
ment of  this  objection.!  Although  religions,  as  he  as- 
serts, may  not  be  put  on  nor  cast  off  like  garments, 
according  to  their  utility,  beauty,  or  power  of  comforting, 
they  may  be  gradually  reduced  or  worn  out,  or  become 

ring  six  evenings,  by  twelve  schoolmasters,  the  rector  of  the  Normal  Col- 
lege, and  six  students  of  the  university,  assisted  by  the  overseers  of  each 
public  work.  The  examination  was  thorough,  and  revealed  a  state  of 
almost  utter  heathenism,  which  confounded  us.  The  facts  were  published 
at  the  time,  and  were  not  called  in  question.  See  "Stow's  Training  Sys- 
tem," p.  128.     Tenth  edition. 

*  "Primeval  Man,"  p.  156.         f  "Origin  of  Civilization,"  p.  348. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  217 

so  patched  that  the  original  texture  may  be  scarcely 
recognizable,  or  they  may  be  scornfully  torn  off  and  flung 
aside  by  infidels,  whose  families  are  allowed  to  grow  up 
in  neglect  of  every  religious  observance.  A  very  gener- 
ous weakness  is  betrayed  by  Sir  John  Lubbock,  when  he 
gives  the  following  reason  for  the  permanence  of  reli- 
gious influences :  "  Religion  appeals  so  strongly  to  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  men ;  it  takes  so  deep  a  hold  on  most 
minds ;  it  is  so  good  a  consolation  in  times  of  sorrow  and 
sickness,  that  I  can  hardly  believe  any  nation  would  ever 
abandon  it  altogether."*  Nations  may  not  deliberately 
abandon  their  religion  ;  yet  emigrants  to  other  lands  may 
gradually  or  rapidly  lose  it,  and  found  communities  or 
tribes  in  which  religious  beliefs  are  but  dimly  percepti- 
ble. In  large  towns  like  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  and  Lon- 
don, there  may  linger  among  the  sunken  masses  vague 
notions  of  a  power  in  religion,  so  long  as  the  Sabbath 
bells  and  a  day  of  rest  proclaim  its  existence  ;  but  in  such 
notions  there  can  be  no  support,  nor  consolation,  nor 
civilizing  influence. 

On  his  theory,  how  can  religion  be  of  the  least  prac- 
tical value  ?  It  is  of  the  earth,  earthy ;  it  is  a  religion 
without  a  Bible  and  without  a  Saviour,  originated  in 
those  irrational  creatures  which  are  beneath  man,  and 
developed  by  a  process  which  no  one  •  can  comprehend. 
It  is  at  best  a  struggle,  an  upheaval ;  it  cannot  uplift  or 
attract  us,  it  has  no  heavenliness,  and  of  what  avail  can 
it  possibly  be  to  the  spirit  as  it  is  leaving  the  "  earthly 
house  of  this  tabernacle"  for  "  the  unseen  and  eternal"  ? 

*  "British  Association  Reports,"  p.  121.     1S67. 

19 


2i8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

"By  these  theorists,  we  are  left  ignorant  of  the  future. 
They  can  know  nothing  of  it,  their  philosophy  fails  them, 
they  ignore  in  their  history  of  civilization  the  one  Book 
which  can  explain  aright,  because  it  originates,  its  high- 
est forms,  which  is  the  true  interpreter  of  history,  and 
the  sanctifying  Power  which  is  to  uplift  a  sunken  world. 

What  are  the  highest  aspirations  of  these  guides  ? 
What  practical  form  does  their  religion  assume  ?  And, 
of  what  moral  value  can  it  be  to  the  human  race  ?  Let 
themselves  speak.  Darwin  has  said,  after  referring  to 
the  strange  superstitions  and  customs  which  have  pre- 
vailed, as  being  "  terrible  to  think  of,"  "  yet  it  is  well 
occasionally  to  reflect  on  these  superstitions,  for  they 
show  us  what  an  infinite  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe" — to 
whom  ?  to  man  ?  to  God,  the  bountiful  giver  of  every 
good  and  perfect  gift  ?  no  ! — "  to  the  improvement  of  our 
reason,  to  science,  and  our  accumulated  knowledge."* 
Think  of  that,  "gratitude  to  science"  and  to  our  own 
"  accumulated  knowledge'  !  !  As  well  is  it  to  speak  of 
gratitude  to  stocks  and  stones,  or  other  senseless  things. 

Nor  does  Herbert  Spencer  guide  us  to  a  clearer  at- 
mosphere and  a  firmer  resting-place,  when  he  reasons  in 
favor  of  a  progress  which  shall  cease  altogether  when  an 
"  equilibrium"  has  been  established  between  man  and  his 
surrounding  conditions.  When  the  internal  forces  which 
we  know  as  feelings  are  perfectly  balanced  by  the  exter- 
nal forces  which  they  encounter,  then  there  will  be 
reached  something  like  the  repose  of  heaven.f     Is  such 

*  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  i,  pp.  68,  69. 

\  Herbert  Spencer's  words  are,  "  The  adaptation  of  man's  nature  to 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  219 

a  result  possible  ?  Does  philosophy  warrant  the  suppo- 
sition that  discipline  shall  cease,  and  man's  intellectual 
and  moral  nature  shall  be  balanced  between  opposing 
forces  ?  The  hypothesis  is  unscientific.  It  violates  the 
laws  which  history  and  our  constitution  have  proved  to 
be  permanent  and  ineradicable,  in  our  yearning  after  a 
higher  and  brighter  existence  than  this  world  can  know. 
We  may  at  once  set  aside,  as  untrue  to  nature,  the  con- 
clusion that  there  shall  ever  be  a  condition  on  earth  in 
which  human  desires  will  be  satisfied  through  any  con- 
ceivable combination  of  external  forces  with  internal 
feelings,  and  that  the  hitherto  unsatisfied  pantings  of  the 
soul  will  cease  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  dull  repose  of  the 
mere  brute.  He  has  studied  the  struggles  of  the  human 
mind  to  little  purpose,  indeed,  who  believes  that  aught 
earthly  can  satisfy  its  deepest  longings.  To  accept  Her- 
bert Spencer's  theory  of  the  highest  conceivable  form  of 
civilization,  is  to  assume  that  man's  unquenchable  thirst 
shall  be  satisfied  here,  that  desire  shall  be  lost  in  the 
stupor  of  luxury,  and  that  hope  itself  shall  perish  in  earth- 
born  perfection. 

Beautiful  as  the  theory  is  in  the  sphere  of  the  imagi- 
nation, facts  do  not  sustain  it ;  and  our  reason  scorns 
it,  as  violating  some  of  those  laws  by  which  the  human 

the  conditions  of  his  existence,  cannot  cease  until  the  internal  forces, 
which  we  know  as  feelings,  are  in  equilibrium  with  the  external  forces 
they  encounter.  And  the  establishment  of  this  equilibrium  is  the  arrival 
at  a  state  of  human  nature  and  a  social  organization  such  that  the  indi- 
vidual has  no  desires  but  those  which  may  be  satisfied  without  exceeding 
his  proper  sphere  of  action,  while  society  maintains  no  restraints  but  those 
which  the  individual  voluntarily  respects."     First  P7-inciples,  p.  512. 


22 o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

constitution  is  being  ever  disciplined  in  relation  to  the 
unseen  and  eternal.  The  speculations  in  which  many 
indulge,  varied  as  they  are,  and,  in  some  instances,  really 
invigorating  as  mental  gymnastics,  are  yet  unprofitable, 
and  we  must  add,  illogical.  Divested  of  those  ideas 
which  the  theorists  have  unconsciously  drawn  from  that 
Christianity  which  like  the  atmosphere,  is  diffused  over 
society  in  Britain,  their  speculations  could  not  bear  the 
touch  of  the  gentlest  test.  They  have  no  right  to  use 
its  principles,  for  the  only  ideas  which  they  can  employ, 
with  logical  fairness,  are  those  which  issue  from  their 
own  departments  in  the  natural  history  of  the  lower  an- 
imals and  man.  Their  ideas  of  "  sin"  and  "  sorrow  and 
repentance,"  of  a  "  moral  sense,"  and  of  a  universal,  be- 
neficent, and  Holy  Creator  and  Ruler,*  are  obviously  bor- 
rowed from  the  Bible,  and  the  Christian  system  which  it 
unfolds  ;  and  yet  they  professedly  exclude  both.  Let 
them  carry  out  their  principles,  and  the  legislation  of 
Britain  will  pass  into  the  confusion  which  "strikes" 
among  the  employed  and  the'  combinations  of  the  em- 
ployers are  already  beginning  to  create.  What  princi- 
ples and  what  precepts  can  legislators  in  the  Darwin, 
or  Herbert  Spencer,  or  Sir  John  Lubbock  school,  bring 
to  bear  on  contending  masses  of  man,  which  can  be  of 
the  least  practical  value,  except  those  which  are  drawn 

*  See  Sir  John  Lubbock's  "  Prehistoric  Times,"  p.  387,  second  edition  ; 
and  also  Darwin's  "Descent  of  Man,"  vol  11,  p.  395,  where  it  is  said, 
"  The  idea  of  a  universal  and  beneficent  Creator  of  the  Universe  does  not 
seem  to  arise  in  the  mind  of  man  until  he  has  been  elevated  by  long-con- 
tinued culture."  Culture  has  never  given  that  idea  apart  from  the  Bible 
or  tradit  on. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  221 

from  Scripture,  and  which  inculcate  with  all  the  majesty 
of  divine  authority  the  obligations  of  self-denial  and  mu- 
tual love  ?  Selfishness  and  utilitarianism  in  political 
economy  will  be  inevitable  results  on  the  theory  of  nat- 
ural selection,  and  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest"  will  be 
the  prevalence  of  might  only.  Their  teaching  bears  us 
back  to  the  too-long-honored  plan, 

"That  they  should  take  [select]  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 

Natural  selection  can  acknowledge  no  law,  and  barba- 
rism can  create  none.  "  Where  there  is  no  law,  there  is 
no  transgression."  This  nation,  if  civilization  is  to  pre- 
vail in  its  highest  and  most  enduring  form,  must  revert 
with  more  than  its  old  earnestness  to  the  principles 
which  the  Word  of  God  inculcates  ;  for  through  these 
only  is  that  righteousness  made  powerful  by  which  na- 
tions are  permanently  exalted. 

We  cannot  leave  this  subject  without  protesting 
against  the  notion  which  some  appear  to  cherish,  when 
they  charge  us,  sometimes  by  hints,  and  sometimes 
openly,  with  being  unfavorable  to  science,  and  fearing  it. 
We  are  not.  We  love  it.  The  works  of  God  in  creation 
are  a  source  of  inexhaustible  delight  to  every  student. 
Next  to  the  guidance  of  the  Word  of  God,  the  lessons  of 
his  works  are  the  most  impressive,  animating  and  enrich- 
ing. That  man's  heart  is  not  right,  who  is  not  elevated 
by  the  beauties,  and  even  by  the  very  mysteries  which 
nature  is  ever  spreading  before  him  ;  but  while  conce- 
ding all  this,  we  cannot  accept  as  true  the  declaration  that 
science  can  of  itself  make  us  "  innocent"  or  more  virtu- 

19* 


222  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ous,  and  that  "religion  is  impossible  without  it."  The 
highest  possible  civilization  will  combine  them  both. 
When  they  shine  upon  one  another,  pouring  forth  their 
treasures  of  light  for  man's  enlargement  and  comfort, 
science,  philosophy,  theology,  and  religion,  may  be  found 
mutually  helpful.  We  resist  their  separation.  We  keep 
side  by  side  the  Works  and  the  Word  of  God.  The  lon- 
ger the  humble  student  looks  into  the  Word  of  God, 
the  more  imposing  does  the  grandeur  of  its  revelation 
become,  and  the  more  satisfying  to  the  soul  is  its  deep- 
ening confidence  in  its  God.  But  there  is  this  peculiari- 
ty in  the  marvellous  volume,  that  while  it  impresses  the 
philosopher,  it  interests  the  child.  Within  this  record, 
while  there  are  treasured  up  for  us  wondrous  facts,  ten- 
derest  sympathies  and  purest  thoughts,  profoundest  phi- 
losophy, and  mysterious  movements  of  divine  government 
and  of  sovereign  grace,  into  which  angels  love  to  look, 
there  are  also  teachings  so  simple  and  so  direct  that  a 
child's  lip  can  lisp  them,  and  a  child's  life  embody  them. 
There  may  be  true  religion  in  the  life  of  the  young 
without  much  of  the  profounder  theology  on  which  many 
expend  their  strength.  So,  also,  "  pure  and  undefiled 
religion"  may  exist  without  attainments  in  natural  science. 
Men  ignorant  of  the  speculations  of  the  philosopher,  and 
unable  to  comprehend  the  calculus  of  the  mathematician, 
or  to  apply  any  of  the  tests  of  the  scientist,  may,  not- 
withstanding, enjoy  vigorous  health,  be  nerved  by  the 
bracing  breeze,  and  revel  in  the  beauty  of  a  summer's 
landscape  or  in  the  wild  turmoil  of  a  winter's  storm  ;  so, 
also,  those  who  are  similarly  ignorant  may  have  health 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  223 

of  soul,  and  delight  in  the  beauties  of  holiness,  while 
they  realize,  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  the  chief  among 
ten  thousand,  the  altogether  lovely."  Millions  of  our 
working  population,  unacquainted  with  recent  discoveries 
of  science  and  applications  in»  art,  and  undisturbed  by 
conflicting  Biblical  criticisms  or  historic  doubts,  or  the 
problems  of  speculative  theology,  may,  notwithstanding, 
have  that  faith,  and  that  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
few  simple  doctrines  which  are  related  to  sin,  repentance, 
pardon,  and  peace,  and  may  be  marked  by  that  refine- 
ment of  feeling,  of  language,  and  of  conduct,  which 
Christianity  alone  imparts,  and  which  of  itself  consti- 
tutes a  civilization  incomparably  nobler  than  that  which 
science  alone  can  ever  evolve. 

The  bold  assumptions  by  modern  theorists  of  prog- 
ress, are  to  be  strenuously  resisted.  They  claim  it  as 
their  distinctive  characteristic  ;  but  we  do  not  yield  it ; 
while  partially  theirs,  it  is  preeminently  ours.  Progress 
with  us  has  not  only  a  more  comprehensive  range  of  feel- 
ing and  of  thought,  but  a  grander  close,  while  they  are 
left  behind  in  comparative  gloom.  That  the  affections 
be  purified  and  exalted,  the  understanding  enlightened, 
the  will  made  submissive,  and  the  imagination  regulated, 
is  the  law  of  the  Christian's  life.  His  path,  like  that  of 
the  just,  shall  shine  "more  and  more  unto  the  perfect 
day."  Sanctification  is  evolution  in  its  highest  form. 
Following  on  to  know  the  Lord  is  the  Christian's  privi- 
lege, and  to  bear  in  love  his  brother's  burden,  is  to  "ful- 
fil the  law  of  Christ."  Thus  man  may  reach  the  summit 
of  civilization  on  earth,  but  progress  hereafter  shall  be 


224  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

continuous,  development  of  character  in  eternity  may  be 
anticipated.  Capacity  will  be  enlarged.  "  It  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we  know  that  when  He 
shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him."  The  light  of  Scrip- 
ture, blending  with  that  of  Science,  not  only  to  enlarge 
our  conceptions,  but  to  cheer  and  guide  us  on  our  earthly 
pilgrimage,  shines  beyond  the  gloom  of  death  into  the  dis- 
tant future,  and  reveals  intuitional  attainment.  By  its 
light  we  discover  unfailing  advancement.  Imposed  limit 
there  is  none.  Growth  in  knowledge  will  never  cease. 
It  may  be  ours,  in  that  new  and  heavenly  sphere,  to  rise 
from  stage  to  stage  in  perfect  bliss,  sounding  depth  and 
solving  problem,  seeing  as  we  are  seen,  and  reaching 
heights  of  thought,  from  which,  when  we  look  back  on 
all  that  we  deemed  grandest  here,  we  shall  regard  them 
but  as  child-experiences  in  the  comprehensiveness  and 
magnificence  of  those  attainments  which  eternity  shall 
evolve  and  sustain. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  22* 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    ANTIQUITY    OF    MAN — THE    BIBLE    CHRONOLOGY — THE 
CHRONOLOGY  OF  GEOLOGISTS. 

And  while  the  student  of  nature  goes  on  honestly,  patiently,  diffi- 
dently, observing  and  storing  up  his  observations,  and  carrying  his  reason- 
ings unflinchingly  to  their  legitimate  conclusions,  convinced  that  it  would 
be  treason  to  the  majesty  at  once  of  science  and  of  religion,  if  he  sought 
to  help  either  by  swerving  ever  so  little  from  the  straight  rule  of  truth ; 
yet  he  does  all  this  under  a  reverent  sense  of  responsibility,  fostered  and 
deepened  by  his  religious  convictions. — the  aichbishop  of  canter- 
bury. 

We  have  reached  another  and  higher  stage,  but  only 
to  be  beset  by  new  difficulties.  Such  questions  are 
pressed  upon  us  as,  When  was  Man  created  ?  Through 
what  periods  has  his  history  passed  ?  Does  the  Bible 
chronology  harmonize  with  those  long  ages  through 
which,  according  to  some  distinguished  geologists  and 
archaeologists,  Man  has  existed  ? 

Before  we  enter  on  the  discussion  of  the  facts  and 
inferences  which  they  adduce,  it  is  indispensable  that  we 
determine  what  the  Bible  teaches  on  this  subject,  and 
what,  consequently,  we  are  really  bound  to  defend. 

I.    THE  BIBLE  CHRONOLOGY,  AND   ITS  TEACHING  AS  TO  THE 
ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

Much  confusion  and  much  unnecessary  alarm  have 
arisen  from  a  disregard,  on  the  part  of  Christian  apolo- 
gists, of  what  the  Bible  does  teach  concerning  the  Anti- 


226  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

quity  of  Man ;  and  one  of  the  benefits  which  extending 
science  has  conferred,  has  been  to  compel  interpreters  to 
look  more  closely  to  the  Scriptures,  and  to  remove  every 
incrustation  with  which  their  predecessors  may  have 
encumbered  the  text. 

We  have  no  definite  Bible  chronology.  No  texts  give 
the  date  of  either  the  Creation  of  Man  or  of  the  Deluge ; 
accordingly  the  period  between  them  is  variously  estima- 
ted. In  the  Hebrew  chronology,  for  example,  it  is  1,656 
years;  in  the  Samaritan,  1,307;  in  the  Septuagint,  2,262  ; 
and  in  Josephus,  2,256.  The  common  conclusion  that 
6,000  years  make  up  man's  history,  cannot  be  positively 
established.  While  the  chronology  deduced  from  the 
Hebrew  gives  4,000  years  between  Adam  and  Jesus 
Christ,  that  of  the  Septuagint  extends  man's  history  by 
1,500  years,  making  the  period  of  his  existence  5,532 
years;  and  some  increase  this  difference  by  120  years 
more.  We  have  to  deal  with  the  question,  it  is  true, 
only  in  relation  to  the  history  of  man  since  the  Deluge, 
but  the  same  elasticity  is  apparent  in  the  chronology  after 
the  flood  as  before  it.  As  part  of  the  Scripture  genealo- 
gies is  definite  and  part  indefinite,  we  have  no  means  of 
determining  satisfactorily  what  is  the  length  of  man's 
history ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  antiquity  of  the  race. 
The  consequence  is,  that,  apart  altogether  from  recent 
geological  disquisitions,  different  dates  and  periods  have 
been  stated  and  resolutely  defended.  Ussher,  Hales, 
Petavius,  Jackson,  Poole,  and  Bunsen,  for  example,  have 
published  widely  varying  results.  By  a  close  examina- 
tion of  the  separate  genealogical  tables,  we  are  taught 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  227 

other  than  purely  historical  truths,  and  we  may  well 
pause  before  concluding  that  they  are  meant  merely  as  a 
basis  for  any  chronological  system  whatever.*  While 
many  systems  have  been  advocated  in  avowed  and  irrec- 
oncilable opposition  to  the  Bible,  it  is  evident  that  the 
differences,  even  among  those  who  are  devout  believers 
in  its  reliableness,  are  such  that  no  sane  man  can  dogma- 
tize as  to  its  chronology.  "  The  extreme  uncertainty," 
says  Dr.  Hodge,  "  attending  all  attempts  to  determine 
the  chronology  of  the  Bible,  is  sufficiently  evinced  by  the 
fact  that  one  hundred  and  eighty  different  calculations 
have  been  made  by  Jewish  and  Christian  authors,  of  the 
length  of  the  period  between  Adam  and  Christ.  The 
longest  of  them  make  it  six  thousand,  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-four,  and  the  shortest,  three  thousand,  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  years.  Under  these  circumstan- 
ces, it  is  very  clear  that  the  friends  of  the  Bible  have  no 
occasion  for  uneasiness.  If  the  facts  of  science  or  of  his- 
tory should  ultimately  make  it  necessary  to  admit  that 
eight  or  ten  thousand  years  have  elapsed  since  the  crea- 
tion of  man,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  in  the  way  of 
such  concession.  The  Scriptures  do  not  teach  us  how 
long  men  have  existed  on  the  earth.  Their  tables  of 
genealogy  were  intended  to  prove  that  Christ  was  the 
Son  of  David  and  of  the  Seed  of  Abraham,  and  not  how 
many  years  have  elapsed  between  the  creation  and  the 
advent."!      Although  eight   or  ten  thousand  years  are 

*  See  an  instructive  article,  Does  Scriphcre  settle  the  Antiquity  of  Man  ? 
in  the  "  British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review,"  by  Rev.  Malcolm 
White,  M.  A.     January,  1872. 

t  "  Systematic  Theology,"  vol.  2,  p.  41.     By  Charles  Hodge,  D.  D. 


2  23  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

insignificant,  compared  with  the  long  periods  over  which 
geologists  carry  the  history  of  man,  they  may  prove  ulti- 
mately more  than  sufficient  to  cover  the  facts  alike  of 
science  and  of  history.  But  while  it  is  acknowledged 
that  we  have  no  rigid  chronological  system  in  the  Bible 
on  which  to  fall  back,  that  admission  is  widely  different 
from  accepting  the  conclusions  of  the  geologist,  and 
attempting  to  force  the  Bible  into  harmony  with  them. 
Let  us  now  examine 

II.    THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  GEOLOGISTS. 

Of  all  the  sciences,  geology  is,  in  many  respects,  the 
most  indefinite.  The  data  are  uncertain,  and  conclu- 
sions as  to  Time  are  generally  so  vague  as  to  be  almost 
useless.  The  problems  of  the  geologist,  like  those  of  the 
mechanic,  depend  for  their  solution  on  the  elements  of 
Force  and  Time.  Let  force  be  increased,  and  time  may 
be  lessened  ;  but  let  time  be  prolonged,  and  a  correspond- 
ingly lessened  force  will  produce  the  same  result  as  a 
greater  force  in  shorter  time.  The  geologist,  therefore, 
in  looking  only  to  results,  may  make  the  time  long  or 
short  which  was  necessary  to  produce  certain  effects, 
according  as  he  makes  the  conditions  of  long  time  or  of 
great  force  predominate. 

Looking  into  the  immeasurable  Past,  he  endeavors  to 
break  it  into  indefinite  sections  by  such  terms  as  "  eras," 
"  epochs,"  and  "  cycles  ;"  and  he  has  introduced  a  vague 
chronology  by  speaking  of  Time  as  pre-geological,  geo- 
logical, and  historical.  That  remote  period  which  starts 
on  its  course  backward  from  the  date  of  the  first  fossil,  is 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  229 

prc-gcological ;  the  period  extending  from  the  first  fossil 
to  the  first  man,  is  geological ;  and  that  which  follows  is 
historical,  as  more  or  less  strictly  related  to  man.*  Dr. 
Page  regards  the  first  as  an  abysm  which  the  human  in- 
tellect, in  even  its  boldest  moods,  shrinks  from  exploring. 
But  there  are  workers  in  Natural  Philosophy  busy  with 
problems  which  lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  the  geologist, 
and  by  whose  labors  the  whole  question  of  Time  may  be 
soon  reduced  within  a  more  manageable  compass  than  at 
present.  This  remark  applies  also  to  the  historical  peri- 
od, which,  in  its  divisions  and  in  its  extent,  is  still  wrapped 
in  obscurity.  We  are,  as  yet,  only  on  the  verge  of  this 
great  field  of  inquiry,  and  while  theories  are  admissible, 
perhaps  in  the  meantime  indispensable,  dogmatism  can 
be  the  sign  only  of  weakness  or  ignorance. 

Our  investigation  is  for  the  present  limited  to  the  geo- 
logical period  which  has  been  designated  the  historical, 
or  rather  to  that  which  is  connected  with  Prehistoric 
Archceology,  in  as  far  as  it  mingles  its  facts  with  those  of 
geology.  The  two  sciences  are  interwoven.  As  in  the 
one,  a  stone  hatchet,  a  flint  arrow-head,  a  fragment  of 
pottery,  will  shed  historical  light  on  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  made,  and  on  the  degree  of  intelligence  then 
existing  ;  so,  in  the  other  science,  a  leaf,  a  shell,  or  a  frag- 
ment of  bone  will  reveal  what  the  climate  was,  as  well 
as  the  other  conditions  in  which  man  then  lived ;  and  both 
togetker  will  contribute  to  reveal  the  character  of  man 
and  the  circumstances  of  his  home. 

It  is  with  this  period  alone  we  have  to  do  at  present; 

*  "The  Past  and  Present  Life  of  the  Globe,"  by  Dr.  Page,  p.  219. 
20 


23o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

but  although  it  is  the  most  recent,  and  although  its  facts 
are  within  common  reach,  much  diversity  of  opinion  and 
inference  prevails.  Although  agreed  in  claiming  imvzen- 
sity  of  time,  geologists  are  by  no  means  at  one  regarding 
any  definite  period  for  man's  history.  Wallace  is  toler- 
ably certain  that  man  has  run  a  course  of  a  thousand 
centuries,  but  he  does  not  see  any  evidence  against  his 
having  existed  "ten  thousand  centuries;"*  and  he  as- 
sumes that  there  was  a  time  "  when  he  had  the  form,  but 
hardly  the  nature,  of  man ;  when  he  neither  possessed 
human  speech,  nor  those  sympathetic  and  moral  feelings 
which,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  everywhere  now  dis- 
tinguish the  race."f  Similar  views  are  held  by  Darwin, 
Sir  Charles  Lyell,  and  Professor  Huxley.  On  this  point 
their  only  difference  consists  in  the  duration  of  the  his- 
tory they  assign  to  man.  Professor  Ftthlroth  of  Elber- 
feld,  in  his  work  on  the  "Neanderthal  Fossil  Man,"  telis 
us  that  "  it  reaches  back  to  a  period  of  from  two  hundred 
thousand  to  three  hundred  thousand  years ;"  and  some 
enthusiastic  anthropologists  have  put  in  the  modest  claim 
for  man  of  nine  million  years.  This  amazing  elasticity 
is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  scientific 
investigation.  The  geological  chronologists  are  evidently 
without  such  definite  data  as  are  indispensable  even  for 
judicious  conjecture,  and  they  are  exposing  their  own 
weakness,  as  guides  of  scientific  thought,  by  such  hap- 
hazard inferences.  Our  hope  is,  that  Natural  Philosophy 
will  soon  correct  the  vagaries  of  Natural  Science,  through 
such  application  of  principles  as  Sir  W.  Thomson  has 

*  "  Natural  Selection,"  p.  303.  t  Ibid.,  pp.  322,  323. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  237 

already  indicated.  It  will  most  probably  be  found  that 
the  physical  conditions  of  our  globe  were,  in  those  dis- 
tant periods,  unsuitable  for  man  ;  or,  failing  this,  it  may 
be  ascertained  that,  if  so  many  hundred  thousand  years 
are  demanded  for  man's  history — confessedly  the  latest 
in  the  geological  records — there  cannot  be  obtained  suit- 
able and  sufficiently  extended  periods  for  the  life-histo- 
ries of  those  creatures  which  preceded  man  in  successive 
formations,  until  we  are  landed  in  that  time  during  which, 
as  Sir  W.  Thomson  has  demonstrated,  no  life  could  have 
possibly  existed.  When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  these 
far-separated  chronological  conclusions  have  been  de- 
duced from  precisely  the  same  facts,  he  must  be  credu- 
lous indeed  who  places  any  faith  in  them. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  as  these  conclusions  carry  the 
Antiquity  of  Man  far  beyond  the  Bible  record,  it  becomes 
us  to  examine  carefully  the  facts  on  which  they  rest. 
We  have  done  so,  and  the  history  of  the  inferences  based 
upon  them  by  no  means  increases  our  confidence  in  the 
chronological  guidance  which  has  been  offered  to  us. 
Allusion  has  been  already  made  to  the  nearly  perfect 
human  skeletons  which  were  found  imbedded  in  what  at 
first  appeared  to  be  old  limestone,  on  the  mainland  of 
Guadaloupe  ;  and  to  the  fact  that,  after  a  keen  discussion, 
and  a  temporary  triumph  on  the  side  of  the  opponents  of 
the  Bible,  it  was  discovered  that  the  limestone  was  a 
recent  formation,  and  that  the  age  of  the  skeletons  could 
not  be  much  more  than  two  hundred  years.  A  similar 
agitation  was  produced  when  the  footprints  of  man  were 
discovered  on  limestone,  and  described  in  the  "American 


2.12 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


Journal  of  Science,"  and  a  similar  collapse  followed  when 
Dr.  Dale  Owen  proved  that  they  had  been  traced  by  an 
Indian  tribe. 

A  mass  of  conglomerate  rock  was  found  in  1831  at 
the  depth  of  ten  feet  below  the  bed  of  the  river  Don  in 
Derbyshire ;  and  had  there  been  found  in  that  mass,  as 
there  might  have  been,  portions  of  any  human  skeleton, 
and  nothing  more,  there  would  have  gone  forth  to  all 
parts  of  the  civilized  world  the  conclusion  that  additional 
proof  had  been  obtained  that  man  existed  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years  before  the  earliest  possible  date  in 
Scripture  chronology  ;  but,  very  awkwardly  for  the  advo- 
cates of  a  vast  antiquity,  the  discovery  of  several  silver 
coins  of  the  reign  of  Edward  the  First,  showed  that  the 
conglomerate  rock  was  only  about  six  hundred  years 
old. 

Not  dissimilar  has  been  the  history  of  Mr.  Leonard 
Horner's  famous  discovery  in  the  Nile  deposit.  Having 
been  intrusted  in  185 1,  by  the~Royal  Society  of  London, 
to  make  a  series  of  borings  in  the  sediment  of  the  river 
Nile,  Mr.  Horner  employed  several  engineers  and  sixty 
workmen,  and  did  his  appointed  work  very  efficiently. 
Shafts  and  borings  were  made  at  intervals  across  the 
valley  from  east  to  west ;  and,  in  the  course  of  the  exca- 
vations, they  brought  to  the  surface  jars,  vases,  pots,  a 
small  human  figure  in  burnt  clay,  and  several  pieces  of 
burnt  brick,  obtained  at  various  depths,  but  sometimes  as 
low  as  sixty  feet.  Minute  calculations  of  time  were 
instantly  prosecuted.  Assuming  a  certain  thickness  of 
mud  deposit   in  a  century,  it  was  announced  that   the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  233 

pieces  of  burnt  brick  were  twelve  thousand  years  old. 
Another  fragment  was  found  at  the  depth  of  seventy-two 
feet,  and  having  been  connected  with  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent rate  of  calculation,  led  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
thirty  thousand  years  old.  So  on  they  went  with  facts 
and  inferences,  until  it  was  ascertained,  unfortunately  for 
the  theorists,  that  confounding  witnesses  were  forthcom- 
ing. A  piece  of  pottery,  which  must  have  been  made, 
as  they  asserted,  before  the  historic  period,  turned  out 
to  be  of  Roman  manufacture ;  and  in  the  deepest  boring 
of  all,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  Rameses  II.,  the  dis- 
covery of  the  Grecian  honeysuckle,  marked  on  some  of 
those  mysterious  fragments  which  they  imagined  to  be 
prehistoric,  proved  that  it  could  not  have  been  older  than 
the  age  of  Alexander  the  Great.  When  Sir  R.  Stephen- 
son was  engineering  in  the  neighborhood  of  Damietta, 
he  found,  at  a  greater  depth  than  Mr.  Horner  reached,  a 
brick  bearing  on  it  the  stamp  of  Mohammed  AH.*  The 
attempt  to  neutralize  the  damaging  effects  of  these  facts, 
by  showing  that  the  Egyptians  of  old  did  burn  bricks, 
has  been  fruitless ;  and  men  of  his  own  school  have  be- 
come ashamed  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  somewhat  careful 
exposition  of  Mr.  Horner's  "preposterous"  calculations, 
and  regret  that  he  "  should  have  thought  it  worth  while 
to  notice  such  absurdities."  It  is,  however,  but  just  to 
Sir  Charles  to  state  that,  while  he  is  careful  in  giving 
Mr.  Horner's  facts,  and  seems  anxious  to  defend  his 
inferences,  he  admits  that  Egyptologists  do  not  consider 
his  experiments  satisfactory  for  testing  the  age  of  a  given 

*  "London  Quarthrly  Review,"  p.  240,  No.  51.     1S66. 
20* 


234  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

thickness  of  the  Nile  sediment."*  The  changes  in  the 
river  Nile,  and  the  fuller  knowledge  of  the  action  and 
the  varying  rate  of  deposits  by  the  Ganges  and  other 
great  rivers,  have  turned  the  attention  of  the  scientific 
world  altogether  aside  from  Mr.  Horner's  discoveries,  as 
destitute  of  the  least  title  to  respect  or  acknowledgment. 
These  and  similar  blunders  by  geologists  of  the  highest 
standing  should  render  us  very  chary  in  accepting  any 
of  those  generalizations  which  do  not  rest  on  a  wide 
induction  of  facts. 

With  the  precautions  which  the  history  of  this  discus- 
sion has  already  suggested,  we  should  not  be  deemed 
unnecessarily  suspicious  if  we  prefer  waiting  for  fuller 
information  before  accepting  facts  and  inferences,  even 
when  both  appear  to  be  worthy  of  an  undisputed  place 
in  our  investigations.  Although  we  may  be  unable  to 
explain  some  facts  which  seem  to  contradict  or  neutralize 
others,  it  is  our  duty  to  reject  none,  but  to  retain  them, 
in  the  hope  that  their  mutual  relations  may,  in  due  time, 
be  clearly  established.  As  it  is,  of  course,  inadmissible, 
in  a  discussion  of  this  kind,  to  ignore  a  single  well- 
authenticated  fact,  because  it  may  constitute  the  one  link 
needed  to  give  completeness  to  the  evidence,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  sift,  one  by  one,  the  whole  series  on  which  con- 
clusions may  rest  regarding  the  Antiquity  of  Man. 

For  the  sake  of  distinctness,  it  may  be  better  to  group 
the  evidence  for  man's  antiquity  under  the  three  follow- 
ing divisions : 

*  "Geological  Evidences  for  the  Antiquity  of  Man,"  by  Sir  Charles 
Lyell,  p.  38. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  235 

(1.)  The  discovery  of  human  remains  in  a  fossil  state, 
in  strata,  or  deposits,  and  caves. 

(2.)  The  discovery  of  flints  and  stone  implements  in 
connection  with  remains  of  extinct  animals.     And, 

(3.)  The  existence  of  villages  built  on  piles,  in  Switzer- 
land and  elsewhere. 

I. —  1.  "  The  fossil  man  of  Denise,"  found  in  a  volcanic 
breccia,  near  the  town  of  De  Puy-en-Velay,  in  Central 
France,  attracted,  as  in  similar  instances,  the  earnest 
attention  of  geologists ;  but  great  doubt  exists  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  the  skeleton.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  half 
admits  the  likelihood  that  imposition  may  have  been 
practised  on  the  scientific  observers  in  that  district,  and 
does  not  deny  the  probability  that  certain  slabs  of  tuff 
which  contained  human  remains  were  tampered  with. 
"  Whether  some  of  these  were  spurious  or  not,"  he  says, 
"  is  a  question  more  difficult  to  decide.  One  of  them, 
now  in  the  possession  of  M.  Pichot-Dumazel,  an  advocate 
of  Le  Puy,  is  suspected  of  having  had  some  plaster  of 
Paris  introduced  into  it  to  bind  the  bones  more  firmly 
together  in  the  loose  volcanic  tuff."*  Sir  Charles  went 
in  1859  to  Le  Puy,  to  inquire  into  the  authenticity  of  the 
bones  and  into  their  geological  age  ;  and  he  employed  a 
laborer  to  make  some  fresh  excavations,  "in  the  hope  of 
verifying  the  true  position  of  the  fossils ;  but  all  of  this 
withoitt  success."  He  failed  even  to  find  in  situ  any 
exact  counterpart  of  the  stone  of  the  Le  Puy  Museum. 
But  apart  from  this  side  of  the  question,  M.  Felix  Robert 
has  decided  that  the  tuff  is  "  a  product  of  the  latest  erup- 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  196. 


236  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tion  of  the  volcano  ;"*  and  M.  Pichot  is  "  satisfied  that 
the  fossil  bones  belonged  to  the  period  of  the  last  vol- 
canic eruptions  of  Velay."f  . 

2.  The  fossil  human  bone  of  Natchez,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, has  been  adduced  as  proving  an  antiquity  of  at 
least  a  hundred  thousand  years ;  but  scarcely  can  any 
evidence  be  more  precarious.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  himself 
does  not  insist  on  the  facts  as  in  any  degree  constituting 
reliable  proof,  but  has  suggested,  as  a  possible  explana- 
tion of  the  association  of  the  human  bone  with  the  re- 
mains of  extinct  animals,  that  the  former  may  possibly 
have  been  derived  from  the  vegetable  soil  at  the  top  of 
the  cliff ;  whereas  the  latter  may  have  been  dislodged 
from  a  lower  position,  and  both  may  have  fallen  into  the 
same  heap  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine.  The  black  color 
of  the  human  bone  may  have  been  acquired  by  its  having 
lain  for  centuries  in  the  dark  superficial  soil  common  in 
these  regions,  a  supposition  fully  borne  out  by  the  fact 
that  many  human  bones  in  old  Indian  graves,  in  the  same 
district,  have  been  stained  of  as  black  a  dye.  Sir  Charles 
in  part  apologizes  for  introducing  this  theory,  and  adds, 
"but  so  long  as  we  have  only  one  isolated  case,  and  are 
without  the  testimony  of  a  geologist  who  was  present  to 
behold  the  bone  when  still  engaged  in  the  matrix,  and  to 
extract  it  with  his  own  hands,  it  is  allowable  to  suspend 
our  judgment  as  to  the  high  antiquity  of  the  fossil."^ 

We  should  rather  say  that  it  is  not  "  allowable"  to  intro- 
duce such  a  case  as  in  any  shape  calculated  to  shed  light 
on  this  subject.    It  proves  nothing,  it  confirms  nothing. 
*  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  167.        t  Ibid.,  p.  195.        %  Ibid.,  pp.  202,  203. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  237 

3.  A  human  skeleton,  found  at  a  considerable  depth 
near  New  Orleans,  has  been  employed  with  a  greater  air 
of  triumph  than  is  usual,  even  with  the  eager  advocates 
of  a  high  antiquity  for  man.  Sir  Charles  attaches  con- 
siderable importance  to  this  discovery,  in  connection  with 
his  estimate  of  the  time  during  which  the  delta  of  the 
Mississippi  has  been  formed.  The  area  is  30,000  square 
miles ;  the  sedimentary  matter  has  reached  a  depth  of 
several  hundred  feet ;  and  he  approximates  a  minimum 
of  time  for  this  deposit  by  ascertaining,  experimentally, 
the  annual  discharge  of  water  by  the  river,  and  the  mean 
annual  amount  of  solid  matter  in  its  waters.  "  The  low- 
est estimate  of  the  time  required  would  lead  us  to  assign 
a  high  antiquity,  amounting  to  many  tens  of  thousands 
of  years  (probably  more  than  100,000)  to  the  existing 
delta."  In  one  part  of  this  delta,  when  carrying  a  large 
excavation  through  a  succession  of  beds  made  up  chiefly 
of  vegetable  matter,  the  workmen  passed  "  four  buried 
forests  superimposed  one  upon  the  other;"  and  at  the 
depth  of  sixteen  feet,  they  "  found  some  charcoal  and  a 
human  skeleton."  By  making  certain  assumptions  as  to 
the  age  of  the  successive  forests,  Dr.  Dowler  has  assigned 
to  the  skeleton  an  antiquity  of  50,000  years. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  four  superimposed  forests 
are  comprised  within  sixteen  feet — in  itself  a  very  im- 
probable circumstance — and  it  may  be  added,  that  Sir 
Charles  has  evidently  misgivings  as  to  the  calculations 
of  Dr.  Dowler,  for  he  is  careful  to  state  that,  as  the  dis- 
covery in  question  had  not  been  made  when  he  saw  the 
excavation  in  progress  at  the  Gas  Works,  in   1346,  he 


238  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

"cannot  form  an  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  the  chrono- 
logical calculations  which  have  led  Dr.  Dowler  to  ascribe 
to  this  skeleton  an  antiquity  of  50,000  years."*  The 
estimate  of  time  by  Dr.  Dowler  is  one  of  those  random 
guesses  which  are  becoming  almost  intolerably  frequent 
in  professedly  scientific  investigations.  Sir  Charles  him- 
self has  given  an  entirely  different  estimate  of  the  re- 
quired time,  when,  in  his  work,  "  Second  Visit  to  the 
United  States,"  he  quotes  a  writer  in  "  Silliman's  Jour- 
nal" regarding  the  growth  of  the  cypress  swamp  :  "  Sec- 
tions of  such  filled-up  cypress  basins,  exposed  by  the 
changes  in  the  position  of  the  river,  exhibit  undisturbed, 
perfect  and  erect  stumps,  in  a  series  of  every  elevation 
with  respect  to  each  other,  extending  from  high-water 
mark  down  to  at  least  twenty-five  feet  below,  measuring 
out  a  time  when  not  less  than  ten  fully-matured  cypress 
growths  must  have  succeeded  each  other,  the  average  of 
whose  age  could  not  have  been  less  than  four  hundred 
years — thus  making  an  aggregate  of  4,000  years  since 
the  first  cypress-tree  vegetated  in  the  basin.  There  are 
also  instances  where  prostrate  trunks  of  huge  dimen- 
sions are  found  imbedded  in  the  clay,  immediately  over 
which  are  erect  stumps  of  trees,  numbering  no  less  than 
800  concentric  layers."!  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
the  skeleton  for  which  Dr.  Dowler  claimed  a  history  of 
50,000  years,  was  discovered  under  four  of  these  long 
"  buried  forests"  or  "cypress  growths  ;"  and  that,  as  the 
writer  in  "Silliman's  Journal"  assigns  to  each  a  mini- 

*  "  Antfquity  of  Man,"  pp.  43,  44. 

t  "Silliman's  Journal,"  Second  Series,  vol.  5,  p.  17.       January,  184S. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  239 

mum  of  four  hundred  years,  the  antiquity  of  the  skeleton 
might  not  be  more  than  sixteen  hundred  years,  even 
when  admitting  that  the  fact  has  been  accurately  stated. 
But  is  it  not  as  probable  that  the  human  body  may  have 
sunk  through  the  soft  mud  in  a  section  of  the  swamp,  or 
that  some  surface-layer  overlying  a  narrow  opening,  and 
yielding,  may  have  allowed  the  skeleton  to  fall,  within 
the  last  few  hundred  years,  to  the  place  in  which  it  was 
found  ? 

Sir  Charles  Lyell's  estimate  of  the  time  during  which 
the  present  delta  of  the  Mississippi  has  been  in  exist- 
ence, is  altogether  unsatisfactory  ;  and  his  demand  for 
more  than  100,000  years  has  not  been  honored  by  those 
who  have  given  special  attention  to  this  subject,  and  who 
have  placed  together  such  data  as  warrant  the  inference 
that  no  more  than  4,000  years  has  been  required  for  the 
formation  of  the  delta  from,  at  least,  a  hundred  miles 
above  New  Orleans.*  The  movements  of  rivers  are  so 
unsteady,  and  the  rate  of  deposit  so  varied,  that  no  claim 
as  to  man's  antiquity  can  safely  be  made  to  depend  on 
them.  The  experience  of  an  "An  Old  Indigo  Planter," 
as  given  in  the  "  Athenaeum,"  is  significant :  "  Having 
lived  many  years  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,"  he  says, 
"  I  have  seen  the  stream  encroach  on  a  village,  undermi- 
ning the  bank  where  it  stood,  and  deposit,  as  a  natural 
result,  bricks,  pottery,  etc.,  in  the  bottom  of  the  stream. 
On  one  occasion,  I  am  certain  that  the  depth  of  the 
stream  where  the  bank  was  breaking,  was  above  forty 
feet ;  yet,  in  three  years,  the  current  of  the  river  drifted 

*  "  What  is  Truth  ?"  by  Rev.  E.  Burgess,  pp.  29S,  299. 


240  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

so  much,  that  a  fresh  deposit  of  soil  took  place  over  the 
debris  of  the  village,  and  the  earth  was  raised  to  a  level 
with  the  old  bank.  Now,  had  our  traveller  obtained  a 
bit  of  pottery  from  where  it  had  lain  for  only  tJirce  years, 
could  he  reasonably  draw  the  inference  that  it  had  been 
made  13,000  years  before  ?"* 

Dr.  Page  justly  sneers  at  the  attempt  to  chronologize 
through  the  facts  by  which  some  have  elaborated  con- 
clusions, and  tells  us  truly  that  we  have  yet  no  means  of 
estimating  aright  geological  time,  and  no  power  to  give 
it  expression  in  years  and  centuries.  "  Many  ingenious 
calculations,"  he  says,  "  have  no  doubt  been  made  to  ap- 
proximate the  dates  of  certain  geological  events ;  but 
these,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  more  amusing  than  in- 
structive. For  example,  so  many  lines  of  mud  are  annu- 
ally laid  down  by  the  inundation  of  the  Nile ;  fragments 
of  pottery  have  been  found  at  the  depth  of  thirty  feet — 
how  many  years  since  the  pottery  was  first  imbedded  ? 
Again,  the  ledges  of  Niagara  are  wasting  at  the  rate  of 
so  many  feet  per  century ;  how  many  years  must  the 
river  have  taken  to  cut  its  way  back  from  Oueenstown 
to  the  present  falls  ? .  .  .  .  For  these  and  similar  compu- 
tations, it  will  be  at  once  perceived  that  we  want  the 
necessary  uniformity  of  factor  ;  and  until  we  can  bring 
elements  of  calculation  as  exact  as  those  of  astronomy 
to  bear  on  geological  chronology,  it  will  be  better  to 
regard  our  '  eras,'  and  '  epochs,'  and  '  cycles,'  as  so  many 
terms  indefinite  in  their  duration,  but  sufficient  for  the 
magnitude    of    the    operations    embraced    within    their 

*  See  "The  Truth  of  the  Bible,"  by  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Savile,  p.  116. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  241 

limit."*  This  admission,  by  such  a  geologist  as  Dr. 
Page,  sufficiently  vindicates  the  unwillingness  of  Bible 
students  to  accept,  as  correct,  the  inferences  as  to  time 
which  many  are  pressing  upon  them. 

4.  Much  interest  has  from  time  to  time  been  awa- 
kened by  the  discovery  of  human  bones  in  caves  ;  and 
attempts  have  been  eagerly  made  to  prove  an  extravagant 
antiquity  for  man  from  their  position  and  their  connec- 
tion with  other  bones.  Details  have  been  published  re- 
garding the  caves  and  fissures  in  England,  in  France,  in 
Germany,  in  Hungary,  in  Canada,  and  elsewhere ;  but  it 
is  unnecessary  to  discuss  them  here  separately,  as  there 
is  remarkable  similarity  in  the  facts,  as  well  as  in  the 
conclusions  to  which  they  have  led.  Those  that  are 
typical  may  sufficiently  indicate  the  amount  and  kind  of 
evidence  which  have  been  brought  forward,  and  within 
what  limits  the  discussion  should  be  conducted. 

At  Hoxne,  in  Suffolk,  in  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury, and  later,  not  only  in  the  caves  of  Gower,  in  Gla- 
morganshire, but  in  various  other  localities  in  England, 
flint  implements  have  been  found  so  associated  with  the 
bones  of  extinct  animals,  that  a  long  chronology  would 
be  required  to  reach  their  origin.  In  the  Bize  cavern,  in 
the  department  of  the  Aude,  human  bones,  with  frag- 
ments of  rude  pottery,  were  mingled  with  land-shells  of 
living  species,  and  with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals. 
Similar  researches  brought  to  light  similar  facts  in  the 
cavern  of  Pondres,  near  Nismes  ;  but  of  these  results  no 
less  an  authority  than  M.  Desnoyers  has  said  :  "  The  flint 

*  "  The  Past  and  Present  Life  of  the  Globe,  p.  220. 
21 


242  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

hatchets  and  arrow-heads,  and  the  pointed  bones  and 
coarse  pottery  of  many  French  and  English  caves,  agree 
precisely  in  character  with  those  found  in  the  tumuli,  and 
under  the  dolmens  (rude  altars  of  unhewn  stone)  of  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Germany. 
The  human  bones,  therefore,  in  the  caves,  which  are  as- 
sociated with  such  fabricated  objects,  must  belong,  not 
to  antediluvian  periods,  but  to  a  people  in  the  same  stage 
of  civilization  as  those  who  constructed  the  tumuli  and 
altars."*  Sir  Charles  himself,  after  visiting  several  caves 
in  Germany,  and  after  weighing  the  arguments  of  both 
M.  Desnoyers  and  Dr.  Buckland,  has  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  human  bones  mixed  with  those  of  extinct 
animals  in  cavern-mud,  in  different  parts  of  Europe, 
"  were  probably  not  coeval.  The  caverns  having  been  at 
one  period  the  dens  of  wild  beasts,  and  having  served  at 
other  times  as  places  of  human  habitation,  worship,  sep- 
ulture, concealment,  or  defence,  one  might  easily  con- 
ceive that  the  bones  of  man  and  those  of  animals,  which 
were  strewed  over  the  floors  of  subterranean  cavities,  oi 
which  had  fallen  into  tortuous  rents  connecting  them 
with  the  surface,  might,  when  swept  away  by  floods,  be 
mingled  in  one  promiscuous  heap  in  the  same  ossiferous 
mud  or  breccia."!' 

Dr.  Schmerling  of  Liege,  with  rare  enthusiasm,  ex- 
amined more  than  forty  caverns  in  his  neighborhood,  and 
made  some  very  remarkable  discoveries  ;  yet  they  bear 
no  direct  evidence  for  a  distant  antiquity.     Sir  Charles 

*  Quoted  by  Sir  C.  Lyell,  in  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  61. 
t  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  62. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  243 

adopts  Dr.  Schmerling's  doctrine,  "that  most  of  the  ma- 
terials, organic  or  inorganic,  now  filling  the  caverns, 
have  been  washed  into  them  through  narrow,  vertical, 
or  oblique  fissures,  the  upper  extremities  of  which  are 
choked  up  with  soil  and  gravel."* 

What  has  proved  of  chief  interest  in  Dr.  Schmerling's 
investigations,  is  his  finding  in  the  Engis  cave  the  re- 
mains of  three  human  beings,  and,  among  them,  that 
skull  which,  in  contrast  with  the  Neanderthal  skull,  found 
in  1857,  has  excited  so  much  keen  debate. 

The  discussion,  though  not  lying  very  properly  with- 
in this  part  of  our  subject,  may  be  noticed  in  passing. 

The  Engis  skull  was  unequivocally  so  much  older 
than  the  Neanderthal,  judging  from  the  position  in  which 
it  was  found,  that,  if  there  had  been  truth  in  the  theories 
regarding  the  gradual  development  of  the  race,  it  should 
have  been  greatly  less  in  its  intellectual  promise  than 
the  other  ;  and  yet,  to  the  utter  confusion  of  all  theorists, 
it  approached  very  near  to  the  highest  or  Caucasian  type  ; 
while  of  the  other,  Professor  Huxley  has  admitted  that 
"  it  is  the  most  brutal  of  all  known  human  skulls. "f 

Baffled  by  the  contradiction  which  these  two  skulls 
gave,  not  only  to  the  theory  of  "  periods,"  but'  to  the  the- 
ory of  physical  and  intellectual  evolution,  theorists  take 
refuge  in  the  declaration  that  the  first  traces  of  the  pri- 
mordial stock  whence  man  has  proceeded  must  be  looked 
for  in  far  older  formations  than  those  hitherto  examined. 
The  Neanderthal  skull  has  come  forth  as  a  resolute  wit- 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  70. 

t  See  Professor  Huxley's  Paper  in  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  80,  89. 


244  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ness  against  the  doctrine  of  the  progressive  development 
of  the  cranium,  and  has  given  a  decided  check  to  hasty 
speculation.  Sir  Charles  Lyell  admits  that  these  two 
skulls  have  created  very  great  surprise ;  because  the  one, 
which  by  common  consent  is  so  old,  is,  notwithstanding, 
of  the  highest  or  Caucasian  type ;  and  the  other,  which 
is  admitted  to  be  without  any  claims  to  antiquity,  has 
departed  so  far  from  the  normal  standard  of  humanity, 
that  it  will  not  piece  into  the  development  theory.  But 
if  this  skull,  which  is  low  in  size  and  conformation,  had 
been  found  in  the  position  of  the  other,  and  the  other 
had  chanced  to  occupy  its  place,  the  reasoning  on  behalf 
of  this  theory  would  have  been  intolerant,  and  doubters 
would  have  been  unsparingly  denounced  as  bigots. 

Of  other  instances  given,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  notice 
only  one.  At  Aurignac,  in  the  south  of  France,  an  open- 
ing into  a  cave  was  accidentally  discovered  in  1852,  and 
in  it  were  found  seventeen  human  skeletons,  which  were 
speedily  removed  and  buried  in  the  neighboring  ceme- 
tery. About  eight  years  afterwards,  M.  Lartet  examined 
the  cave-remains ;  and  although  he  failed  to  obtain  any 
satisfactory  information  regarding  the  human  skeletons, 
he  assigned  to  them  a  remote  antiquity,  along  with  the 
implements  and  other  bones  which  he  obtained.  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  however,  does  not  think  that  the  facts 
which  M.  Lartet  has  stated  add  anything  to  the  evidence 
in  favor  of  man's  antiquity.* 

The  conclusion  of  Dr.  Page,  in  reference  to  all  these 
cave-finds,  is  confirmatory  of  the  views  which  we  have 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  189. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  245 

expressed  regarding  the  uncertainty  or  unreliableness  of 
the  reasoning  by  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  carry 
the  antiquity  of  man  into  immeasurably  distant  periods. 
After  taking  into  consideration  the  facts  which  have  been 
stated  in  relation  to  the  formation  and  age  of  peat-mosses, 
and  to  remains  in  cave-earth,  he  is  not  sure  whether  the 
older  bones  of  the  extinct  animals  "may  not  have  been 
washed  up,  drifted,  and  reassorted  from  earlier  deposits." 
That  very  possibility  gives  an  insecure  footing  to  those 
who  would  establish  inferences  on  such  data.  The  hu- 
man skeletons  which  have  been  found  in  caverns  he 
regards  as  being  but  of  yesterday,  when  geologically  esti- 
mated, and  "  dating  back,  at  the  utmost,  but  a  few  thou- 
sand years."* 

This  conclusion  is  all  the  more  satisfactory,  as  given 
by  one  of  the  most  independent  and  cautious  of  geologists, 
and  should  encourage  Bible  students  to  cherish  a  deeper 
confidence  in  the  principles  which  many  are  assailing. 

II.  The  evidence  of  antiquity,  dependent  on  the  con- 
nection of  Flint  Arrow-Heads  and  other  stone  imple- 
ments with  the  remains  of  extinct  animals,  and  which  is 
closely  related  to  that  of  the  human  skeletons  whose  his- 
tory we  have  been  examining,  has  of  late  been  very  con- 
stantly pressed  into  service  by  avowed  opponents  of  the 
Bible. 

As  intimately  connected  with  the  discovery  of  human 

skeletons  in  the  position  referred  to,  we  may  here  notice 

the  finding  of  human  relics  in  Danish  peat,  in  the  valley 

of  Somme,  and  in  various  caves. 

*  "  Geology,  Advanced  Text-Book,"  p.  383. 
21* 


246  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

The  Danish  peat  has  a  chronological  history  assigned 
to  it,  dependent,  first,  on  its  rate  of  growth ;  and  second, 
on  the  trees  which  have  successively  lived  in  the  course 
of  its  formation.  In  the  lowest,  and  therefore  oldest 
stratum  of  the  peat,  the  Scotch  fir,  which  is  not  now  a 
native  of  the  Danish  islands,  flourished  and  disappeared 
long  ago.  On  a  higher  level,  and  in  a  subsequent  period, 
the  oak  succeeded  the  Scotch  fir;  and  "after  flourishing 
for  ages,"  was  in  turn  displaced  by  the  beech.*  Danish 
naturalists  and  antiquarians  have  connected  with  these 
trees,  respectively,  the  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  periods. 
In  the  oldest  formation,  deep  in  the  peat,  and  under  the 
trunk  of  a  pine-tree,  Steenstrup  found  a  flint  instrument ; 
and  on  these  facts,  calculations  have  been  made  by  which 
some  geologists  have  determined  the  antiquity  of  man. 

"What  may  be  the  antiquity,"  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell, 
"  of  the  earliest  human  remains  preserved  in  the  Danish 
peat,  cannot  be  estimated  in  centuries  with  any  approach 
to  accuracy.  In  the  first  place,  in  going  back  to  the 
bronze  age,  we  already  find  ourselves  beyond  the  reach 
of  history,  or  even  of  tradition.  In  the  time  of  the  Ro- 
mans, the  Danish  isles  were  covered,  as  now,  with  mag- 
nificent beech  forests.  Nowhere  in  the  world  does  this 
tree  flourish  more  luxuriantly  than  in  Denmark,  and  eigh- 
teen centuries  seem  to  have  done  little  or  nothing  tow- 
ards modifying  the  character  of  the  forest  vegetation. 
Yet,  in  the  antecedent  bronze  period,  there  were  no  beech- 
trees,  or  at  most,  but  a  few  stragglers,  the  country  being 
covered  with  oak.  In  the  age  of  stone,  again,  the  Scotch 
*  "Antiquity  of  Man."  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  pp.  9,  372. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  247 

fir  prevailed,  and  already  there  were  human  inhabitants 
in  those  old  pine  forests.  How  many  generations  of  each 
species  of  tree  flourished  in  succession  before  the  pine 
was  supplanted  by  the  oak,  and  the  oak  by  the  beech, 
can  be  but  vaguely  conjectured ;  but  the  minimum  of 
time  required  for  the  formation  of  so  much  peat,  must, 
according  to  the  estimate  of  Steenstrup  and  other  good 
authorities,  have  amounted  to  at  least  four  thousand 
years :  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  observed  rate  of 
growth  of  peat  opposed  to  the  conclusion  that  the  num- 
ber of  centuries  may  not  have  been  four  times  as  great, 
even  though  the  signs  of  man's  existence  have  not  yet 
been  traced  down  to  the  lowest  or  amorphous  stratum."* 
This  calculation  as  to  time  must  be  very  uncertain, 
because  we  as  yet  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  physical 
conditions  under  which  the  moss,  during  its  different 
stages,  was  deepened.  Mosses  are  formed  with  compara- 
tive rapidity  in  moist  and  cold  districts,  through  fallen 
trees  and  the  stagnation  of  water  giving  rise  to  marshiness. 
Although  in  a  warm  climate  decayed  timber  would  imme- 
diately be  removed  by  insects  or  by  putrefaction,  in  the 
cold  temperature  now  prevailing  in  our  latitude,  many 
examples  are  recorded  of  marshes  originating  in  this 
source ;  and  Sir  Charles  Lyell  admits  that  in  Mar  forest, 
in  Aberdeenshire,  large  trunks  of  Scotch  fir,  which  had 
fallen  from  age  and  decay,  were  soon  immured  in  peat.^ 
And  he  distinctly  states  that  the  overthrow  of  a  forest 
by  a  storm,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 

*  "Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  16,  17. 

t  Lyell's  "  Principles  of  Geology,"  p.  72a 


248  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

gave  rise  to  a  peat-moss  near  Loch  Broom,  in  Ross-shire, 
where,  in  less  tlian  half  a  century  after  the  fall  of  the  trees, 
the  inhabitants  dug  peat.*"  He  admits,  further,  that  such 
events  were  by  no  means  uncommon  in  either  Britain  or 
the  Continent ;  and  the  obvious  and  natural  question 
suggested  is,  May  not  many  storms  have  produced  simi- 
lar changes  in  the  Scotch  fir  and  oak  forests  in  the  Da- 
nish islands,  so  that  the  growth  of  moss  may  have  been 
rapid  as  it  was  in  Ross-shire,  and  in  other  localities  in 
Scotland  and  Wales  about  which  reliable  information 
has  been  obtained  ? 

Among  other  interesting  instances  of  the  growth  of 
moss,  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Hatfield  in  Yorkshire, 
and  Kincardine  in  Scotland.  In  Hatfield  moss,  which 
was  evidently  a  forest  eighteen  centuries  ago,  fir-trees 
have  been  found  ninety  feet  long,  and  oaks  one  hundred 
feet;  but  at  the  bottom  of  the  mosses,  strange  to  say, 
Roman  roads  have  been  discovered,  showing  that  the 
mosses  have  grown  since  the  Roman  invasion.  "All  the 
coins,  axes,  arms,  and  other  utensils  found  in  British  and 
French  mosses,  are  also  Roman — so  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  peat  in  European  peat-bogs  is  evidently 
not  more  than  the  age  of  Julius  Caesar.  Nor  can  any 
vestiges  of  the  ancient  forests  described  by  that  general 
along  the  great  Roman  way  in  Britain  be  discovered, 
except  in  the  ruined  trunks  of  trees  in  peat."f  When  we 
take  these  and  similar  instances  into  account,  we  are 
justified  in  regarding  as  altogether  visionary. those  calcu- 
lations in  which  M.  de  Perthes  and  others  have  indulged, 
*  Lyell's  "  Principles  of  Geology,"  p.  721.  \  Ibid. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  249 

when  they  have  speculated  regarding  time,  and  have 
claimed  tens  of  thousands  of  years  for  the  formation  of  a 
moss  only  thirty  feet  in  thickness.  In  an  interesting  lit- 
tle work  by  the  Rev.  J.  Brodie,*  there  is  reference  to  the 
Roman  road  in  Scotland  as  covered  by  eight  feet  of 
moss,  and  as  laid  bare  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago :  and  he 
supposes  that  this  road  could  not  have  been  made  before 
the  year  of  our  Lord  200,  that  being  the  date  at  which 
the  Roman  conquests  were  pushed  farthest  into  Britain  ; 
and,  assuming  the  rate  of  growth  in  the  peat  to  have 
been  uniform  from  that  time,  Mr.  Brodie  infers  that  there 
would  be  six  inches  of  increase  in  a  century — not  an 
inch  and  fifth,  as  M.  de  Perthes  has  calculated. 

The  uncertainty  of  those  causes  which  determine  the 
age  of  peat  mosses,  is  made  still  more  apparent  by  com- 
paring the  facts  in  Europe  with  those  of  America.  To 
the  authority  of  Professor  C.  Hitchcock  few  will  hesitate 
to  submit ;  and  his  conclusion  is,  that  "  the  growth  of 
peat  is  extremely  variable,  even  in  contiguous  swamps.  It 
accumulates  much  more  rapidly  in  the  primitive  forest 
than  after  clearings  have  been  effected,  chiefly,  perhaps, 
because  in  a  wooded  country  rain  is  more  common,  as 
any  one  who  has  travelled  in  a  wild  northern  region  can- 
not have  failed  to  notice."  Comparing  the  rate  of  growth 
where  the  country  has  been  to  a  large  extent  cleared, 
with  the  rate  of  growth  where  there  has  been  no  such 
clearance,  Professor  Hitchcock  has  come  to  definite  con- 
clusions as  to  the  variableness  of  the  growth.    Supposing 

*  "  The  Antiquity  and  Nature  of  Man,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  Brodie,  M.  A., 
pp.  49,  50. 


250  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

that  the  original  Danish  forest  of  Scotch  fir  may  have 
been  destroyed  by  fire  in  a  single  season,  as  often  hap- 
pens in  North  America,  he  affirms  that  the  blackened 
trunks  would  be  replaced  by  the  "second  growth,"  con- 
sisting in  America  of  the  birch,  poplar,  and  similar  trees, 
and  that  in  two  or  three  centuries  the  new  forest  would 
be  thoroughly  established.  In  Denmark,  while  the  sec- 
ond forest  was  of  oak,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  third,  con- 
sisting of  beech-trees,  he  does  not  admit  that  the  whole 
forest  would  have  been  exclusively  made  up  of  any  one 
of  the  three — firs,  oaks,  or  beeches  :  "  Our  primitive  for- 
ests commonly  contain  a  '  mixed  growth' — it  is  generally 
very  limited  valleys  or  hill-tops  that  are  covered  by  only 
one  kind  of  tree ;  pine,  spruce,  juniper,  and  maple,  are 
intermixed  in  equal  proportions  in  some  regions,  while 
oak,  hickory,  and  chestnut  predominate  elsewhere.  Obser- 
vation would  therefore  indicate  the  probability  of  a  mixed 
growth  in  the  stone  and  bronze  as  well  as  in  the  iron  age. 
For  this  reason  we  must  leave  a  margin  in  our  calcula- 
tions of  time  from  the  succession  of  forests — certain  dis- 
tricts having  the  oaks  predominating  longer  than  others, 
may  have  been  those  taken  for  calculating.  Estimating 
from  these  new  standpoints,  we  may  say  that  the  mini- 
mum required  to  produce  the  changes  observed  in  the 
Danish  forests,  may  be  two  thousand  years."* 

Other  elements,  necessarily  entering  into  the  proba- 
bilities of  the  question  of  time,  increase  the  difficulties  of 
calculation.     Trees  growing  on  the  edges  of  the  moss 

*  Quoted  by  Professor  Duns,  in  "Science  and  Christian  Thought," 
p.  246. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  251 

fall  over  on  its  surface,  and  are  in  turn  covered  over  ; 
slips  which  are  not  uncommon  might  carry  different 
trees  into  the  moss,  and  rains  falling,  or  water  oozing  into 
the  edges  or  the  centre  of  the  moss,  might  give  it  &  flu- 
idity not  at  all  uncommon,  which  might  admit  of  flint  or 
other  implements  gradually  sinking  to  a  considerable 
depth.  It  appears  preposterous  to  found  any  conclusion 
as  to  time  on  the  fact  of  implements  being  discovered 
at  any  depth  in  moss.  If  traces  of  man's  presence  in  a 
definite  form,  as  the  Roman  roads  at  the  depth  of  eight 
feet  in  the  Hatfield  moss,  or  if  evidences  of  human  ac- 
tion on  any  of  the  sunken  trees  were  adduced,  there 
would  be  greater  plausibility  in  the  auguments  by  which 
their  conclusions  are  vindicated. 

Sir  Charles  Lyell  himself,  after  reviewing  the  calcu- 
lations in  which  "archaeologists  and  geologists  of  merit 
have  indulged,  in  the  hope  of  arriving  at  some  positive 
dates,"  has  given,  as  his  conclusion,  that  they  are  only 
"tentative,"  in  short,  only  "a  rough  approximation  of  the 
truth."  Although  4,000  and  7,000  years  before  our 
time  have  been  assigned  for  the  history  of  certain  events 
and  monuments,  he  candidly  admits  "that  much  collat- 
eral evidence  will  be  required  to  confirm  these  estimates, 
and  to  decide  whether  the  number  of  centuries  has  been 
under  or  over- rated."* 

2.  Another  prominent  instance  of  flint  implements 
made  by  man,  and  on  which,  in  reasoning,  much  stress 
has  been  laid,  has  been  adduced  from  the  valley  of  the 
Somme,  in   Picardy,   France.      Referring  to  geological 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  373. 


25 2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

treatises  for  a  minute  description  of  the  valley,  we  shall 
limit  our  statement  to  such  details  as  are  required 
for  forming  a  fair  estimate  of  the  argument.  The 
chalk  formation  originally  occupied  the  whole  district  ; 
but,  by  degrees,  a  stream  began  to  flow  across  this 
chalky  region,  and  a  valley  was  formed,  which,  in  the 
bottom,  has  an  average  width  of  a  mile.  In  the  lowest 
part  of  the  valley  is  a  bed  of  gravel,  from  three  to  four- 
teen feet  thick  ;  and  on  this,  separated  by  a  thin  layer 
of  clay,  there  is  a  growth  of  peat  from  ten  to  thirty  feet 
in  depth,  through  which  the  river  is  flowing.  On  the 
sides  of  the  valley  are  beds  of  gravel  resembling  an- 
cient river  banks,  the  lower  of  which  is  close  on  the 
peat,  while  the  upper  is  from  eighty  to  a  hundred  feet 
higher.  It  is  in  these  gravel-beds  that,  mingled  with 
bones  of  animals  now  extinct,  various  tools  of  flint,  spear- 
heads, &c,  have  been  found.  Two  arguments  for  the 
antiquity  of  the  race  have  been  based  on  the  fact  of  the 
remains  which  have  been  associated  together.  The  first 
is,  that  the  men  who  used  the  flint  instruments  lived 
with  races  of  animals  long  extinct  ;  and  the  second  is, 
that  a  long  period  was  required  for  the  geological  changes 
which  have  subsequently  taken  place. 

But  the  mere  fact  that  man  was  contemporaneous 
with  animals  now  extinct,  can  prove  nothing  in  reference 
to  his  antiquity.  The  animals  may  have  been  lingering 
through  a  gradual  extinction  to  his  day,  or  man  may 
have  begun  to  exist  when  their  race  was  vigorous.  A 
writer  in  the  "  Westminister  Review,"  who  strongly 
pleads  for  man's  remote  antiquity,  has  frankly  admitted 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.         .  253 

that  the  argument  from  coincidence  of  remains  goes  for 
nothing — "  Since  many  species  of  animals,  whose  first 
introduction  dates  much  farther  back  in  geological  time, 
are  at  present  contemporaneous  with  man  ;  and  carcasses 
once  frozen  up  might  be  preserved  for  thousands  of 
years  as  well  as  for  hundreds,  for  millions  as  well  as  for 
thousands."*  The  late  Professor  Rogers,  writing  in 
"  Blackwood's  Magazine,"  reasoned  powerfully  to  the 
same  effect,  that  geologists  too  hastily  gave  to  the  Dilu- 
vium a  remote  antiquity  ;  that  its  relation  to  historic 
time  is  not  ascertainable  ;  and  that  it  is  every  whit  as 
natural  and  as  logical  to  infer  the  relative  recency  of  these 
now  extinct  animals  because  the  works  of  man  are  found 
with  them,  as  it  is  to  infer  the  antiquity  of  man  from  the 
assumed  greater  age  of  these  animals.  He  insists  that 
a  specially  remote  age  is  not  necessarily  attributable  to  the 
flint-shaping  men  of  the  Diluvium  because  of  their  living 
at  the  same  time  with  the  mammoth,  and  that,  if  their 
association  is  to  be  held  proving  a  long  prehistoric  an- 
tiquity, other  evidences  must  be  obtained. f 

It  is  obvious  that  this  line  of  exposition  may  be  legiti- 
mately extended  to  meet  all  the  instances  in  which  flint 
and  other  stone  implements  have  been  found  mixed  with 
the  bones  of  extinct  animals.  Their  coincidence  proves 
nothing  as  to  remoteness  of  time  in  man's  history. 

The  second  form  of  the  argument  depends  on  the 
length  of  time  required  for  geological  changes  which 
have  taken  place  since  the  extinct  animals  and  man  have 

*  "  Westminster  Review,"  April,  1S63. 

t  "Blackwood's  Magazine,"  October,  i860;  pp.  428,  431. 

22 


254  -  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

been  supposed  to  live  together.  Geologists  are  not 
agreed  regarding  the  age  of  the  beds  in  which  the  flint 
implements  have  been  found.  Mr.  Prestwich  has  con- 
cluded that  the  evidence  requires  of  us  to  bring  forward 
the  extinct  animals  towards  our  own  time,  as  much  as  it 
does  to  carry  man  back  toward  their  supposed  place  in 
geological  time.  The  discussion  has  oscillated  between 
those  who  admit  the  probability  of  unexpected  temporary 
convulsions  or  violent  movements,  and  those  who  advocate 
undeviating  uniformity.  While  Sir  Charles  heads  the 
latter  in  Britain,  the  late  Sir  R.  Murchison,  an  authority 
equally  high,  led  those  geologists  who  resist  the  attempt 
to  account,  by  slow  and  uniform  processes,  for  all  the 
phenomena  which  are  presented.  The  two  methods  in 
nature,  if  we  so  designate  them,  almost  invariably  go  to- 
gether ;  and  if  this  be  granted,  we  may,  without  much 
difficulty,  rest  assured  that  such  rapid  changes  took  place 
as  are  adequate  to  explain  the  facts  by  which  so  many 
are  at  present  perplexed.  Dr.  Duns,  after  referring  to 
Sir  Charles  Lyell's  description  of  the  erosive  action  of 
running  water,  and  his  illustration  of  its  force  by  the 
river  Simeto  making  its  passage,  in  the  course  of  two 
centuries,  through  the  lava  of  Etna,  (which  had  dammed 
up  its  bed  in  1603,)  by  opening  through  the  solid  mass  a 
channel  varying  in  width  from  fifty  to  several  hundred 
feet,  and  in  depth,  in  some  parts,  from  forty  to  fifty  feet, 
puts  this  apt  question,  "  If  the  Simeto  has,  in  two  hun- 
dren  years,  cut  a  ravine  through  hard  volcanic  rock  a 
hundred  feet  wide  and  fifty  deep,  how  long  would  the 
Somme  take  to  excavate  its  present  valley  in  the  soft 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  255 

chalk  rocks  over  which  it  runs  ?  In  the  latter  case,  we 
have  not  hundreds  of  years,  but  thousands  at  our  dis- 
posal."* While  there  were  at  work  other  agencies  than 
this  erosion  by  water,  its  influence  ought  surely  to  be 
fairly  estimated  as  producing  geological  changes. 

In  an  able  paper  on  Valley  Gravels,  which  Mr.  Af- 
fred  Tylor  read  at  the  Geological  Society,  the  not  un- 
common supposition  was  maintained,  that  the  drift  of 
the  Sorame  valley  was  of  marine  origin,  and  that  the  flint 
implements  had  been  introduced  by  floods,  and  were  of 
recent  date.  While  resisting  both  conclusions,  Mr.  Prest- 
wich  confessed  that  he  regarded  the  gravels  as  having 
been  deposited  by  forces  far  more  powerful  than  any 
recognized  at  the  present  day,  and  that  the  time  for  pro- 
ducing the  results  now  visible  was  therefore  comparative- 
ly short.  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  has  emphatically 
stated,  in  reference  to  a  corresponding  subject,  that  "no 
analogy  of  tidal  or  fluviatile  action  can  explain  either  the 
condition  or  position  of  the  debris  and  unrolled  flints  and 
bones.  On  the  contrary,  by  referring  their  distribution 
to  those  great  oscillations  and  ruptures  by  which  the 
earth's  surface  has  been  so  powerfully  affected  in  former 
times,  we  may  well  imagine  how  the  large  area  under 
consideration  was  suddenly  broken  up  and  submerged.  .  . 
In  short,  the  cliffs  of  Brighton  afford  distinct  proofs 
that  a  period  of  perfect  quiescence  and  ordinary  shore 
action,  very  modern  in  geological  parlance,  but  very 
ancient  as  respects  history,  was  followed  by  oscilla- 
tions and  violent  fractures  of  the  crust,  producing  the 
*  "Science  and  Christian  Thought,"  pp.  273,  274. 


256  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tumultuous  accumulations   to  which  attention  has  been 
drawn."* 

In  the  view  of  these  oscillations,  and  their  occasionally- 
violent  movements,  sometimes  extended  and  sometimes 
limited  in  their  area,  we  cannot  reckon  on  long  peri- 
ods for  producing  effects  which  may  have  been  rapidly 
accomplished,  nor  can  we  determine  when  these  may  or 
may  not  recur  in  the  physical  history  of  the  earth's  crust. 

*  Sir  R.  Murchison,  "  On  the  Distribution  of  the  Flint  Drifts  of  the 
Southeast  of  England." 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  257 


CHAPTER    XII. 

ANTIQUITY    OF    MAN    (CONTINUED) THE    CHRONOLOGY    OF 

ARCHAEOLOGISTS INFERENCES  CONNECTED  WITH  GE- 
OLOGY AND  HISTORY — THE  DANISH  SHELL-MOUNDS — 
SWISS  LAKE  DWELLINGS EGYPTIAN  MONUMENTS. 

The  antiquities  piece  on  in  natural  sequence  to  the  geology ;  and  it 
seems  but  rational  to  indulge  in  the  same  sort  of  reasonings  regarding 
them.  They  are  the  fossils  of  an  extinct  order  of  things,  newer  than  the 
tertiary — of  an  extinct  race,  of  an  extinct  religion,  of  a  state  of  society 
and  a  class  of  enterprises  which  the  world  saw  once,  but  which  it  will 
never  see  again ;  and  with  but  little  assistance  from  the  direct  testimony 
of  history,  one  has  to  grope  one's  way  along  this  comparatively  modern 
formation,  guided  chiefly,  as  in  the  more  ancient  deposites,  by  the  clew  of 
circumstantial  evidence. — hugh  miller. 

There  is  another  class  of  facts  more  closely  related 
to  Archaeology  than  to  Geology,  which  are  also  claimed 
as  evidence  of  man's  antiquity.  Although  archaeology, 
as  a  science,  has  to  do  exclusively  with  man  and  his 
works,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  where  it  begins  in  geol- 
ogy and  where  it  ends  in  history,  as  it  interweaves  with 
both  and  binds  them  together.  While  flint  implements 
and  human  bones  have  been  found  in  caves  and  moss- 
depths,  or  in  other  superficial  formations,  we  have  class- 
ed them  under  the  section  geology,  because  there  has 
been  nothing  artificial  in  their  resting-place  to  distin- 
guish the  remains  of  man  from  those  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals ;  but  where  the  remains  have  been  connected  with 

artificial  structures  of  any  kind,  such  as  the  Danish  shell- 

22* 


258  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

mounds,  the  lake  dwellings,  or  the  American  mounds, 
or  Egyptian  and  other  monuments,  we  should  class  them 
under  archceology. 

This  distinction,  which  we  venture  to  suggest,  will 
free  the  discussion  from  some  of  the  embarrassment  and 
confusion  which  arise  from  commingling  the  same  facts 
under  both  the  geological  and  archaeological  divisions. 
It  is  not  absolutely  accurate;  because  everything  prehis- 
toric which  is  related  to  man  is  archaeological,  whatever 
be  the  position  or  circumstances  in  which  it  is  discover- 
ed ;  but  the  distinction  is  convenient,  and  it  is  sufficiently 
logical  to  give  consistency  to  the  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion before  us. 

III.  For  these  reasons,  we  have  separated  the  facts 
which  we  have  now  to  consider  from  those  already  ex- 
amined, as  more  properly  geological. 

i.  The  first  which  we  notice  are  the  Danish  Shell- 
Mounds,  or  Kjokkenmodding — "kitchen  refuse  heaps." 
What  are  the  facts  here,  and  what  the  inference  ?  "  At 
certain  points,"  says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  "  along  the  shores 
of  nearly  all  the  Danish  islands,  mounds  may  be  seen, 
consisting  chiefly  of  thousands  of  cast-away  shells  of  the 
oyster,  cockle,  and  other  mollusks  of  the  same  species  as 
those  which  are  now  eaten  by  man.  These  shells  are 
plentifully  mixed  up  with  the  bones  of  various  quadru- 
peds, birds,  and  fish,  which  served  as  the  food  of  the  rude 
hunters  and  fishers  by  whom  the  mounds  were  accumu- 
lated." Similar  mounds  have  been  left  near  the  shore  by 
North  American  Indians.  "  Scattered  all  through  the 
Danish  heaps  are  flint  knives,  hatchets,  and  other  instru- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  259 

ments  cf  stone,  horn,  wood,  and  bone,  with  fragments  of 
broken  pottery,  mixed  with  charcoal  and  cinders  ;  but 
never  any  implements  of  bronze,  still  less  of  iron.  .  .  . 
The  mounds  vary  in  height  from  three  to  ten  feet,  and, 
in  area,  are  some  of  them  1,000  feet  long,  and  from  150 
to  200  wide.  They  are  rarely  placed  more  than  ten  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  are  confined  to  its  imme- 
diate neighborhood."*  Sir  Charles  briefly  repeats  his 
argument  based  on  the  growth  of  a  succession  of  differ- 
ent kinds  of  trees,  and  on  the  slow  growth  of  peat-moss  ; 
but  as  his  reasoning  has  already  been  fully  considered, 
and  its  weakness  exposed  in  the  light  of  his  own  admis- 
sions,! it  is  unnecessary  here  to  make  further  allusion  to 
it.  All  that  is  required  is  to  notice  such  new  reasoning 
as  he  has  adduced,  and  for  that  purpose  a  few  sentences 
will  suffice.  His  arguments  are  (1)  As  there  are  parts  of 
the  coast  where  the  western  ocean  is  wearing  down  the 
cliff,  it  appears  that,  through  a  slow  process,  the  land  has 
been  carried  off  on  which  shell-mounds  were  raised  ;  and 
(2)  As  the  cockle  and  mussel  shells  in  the  mounds  are 
larger  than  those  now  existing  m  the  neighboring  sea,  a 
change  in  its  littoral  water  has  taken  place.  His  other 
arguments  regarding  the  smaller  race  of  dogs  then  exist- 
ing, and  those  birds,  also,  which  are  now  all  but  extinct, 
carry  little  or  no  weight  on  his  side  of  the  question.  That 
certain  mounds  are  not  found  on  the  western  shore, 
proves  nothing  as  to  their  antiquity,  nor  does  the  fact  of 
a  moss  intervening  between  the  sea  and  any  mound  ;  for 
there  is  no  evidence  that  moss  was  formed  subsequently 
*  Antiquity  of  Man,"  pp.  11,  12.       t  Ante,  Chap.  11,  pp.  246,  251. 


26o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

to  such  mounds,  and  besides,  the  early  inhabitants  may 
have  preferred  to  rest  on  their  landward  side. 

The  mere  deterioration  of  the  eatable  shells  can 
scarcely  be  accepted  as  evidence  ;  for,  as  Professor  C. 
H.  Hitchcock  has  stated,  while  "  similar  heaps  are  scat- 
tered along  the  Atlantic  coast,  from  Prince  Edward 
Island  to  Georgia,"  and  while,  in  both  continents,  "  these 
heaps  indicate  that  the  oyster  formerly  flourished  in 
abundance  where  it  is  now  extremely  scarce,"  this  fact 
does  not  of  itself  necessitate  an  ancient  date  for  the 
forming  of  the  refuse  heap  ;  "  because  in  Maine,  we  can 
prove  that  the  oyster  became  thus  nearly  extinct  within 
the  time  of  the  white  population."  "At  the  present  day," 
says  Professor  Duns,  "  there  are  tribes  of  Indians  in 
British  North  America  who  form  such  refuse-heaps  still ; 
while,  contemporary  with  them,  there  are  others  who 
have  no  such  customs.  Would  any  one,  then,  be  war- 
ranted to  conclude  that  these  refuse-heap  makers  are 
greatly  more  ancient  than  the  others  ?"*  A  minute  ex- 
amination of  proof,  not  only  in  the  localities  where  re- 
cent discoveries  have  been  made,  but  in  those  distant 
parts  of  the  world  in  which  similar  facts  or  changes  have 
been  noticed,  discredits  the  deductions  which  have  been 
made  regarding  man's  antiquity. 

II.    LAKE  DWELLINGS. 

There  is  another  series  of  facts  which  have  of  late 
awakened  much  interest,  because  they  have  been  em- 
ployed in  some  instances  in  evidence  of  a  remote  anti- 
*  "  Science  and  Christian  Thought,"  p.  228. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  261 

quity  of  man.  Lake  Dwellings,  or  houses  built  on 
wooden  piles  driven  into  the  soil,  or  firmly  propped  at 
the  bottom  of  lakes,  and  at  some  distance  from  the 
shore,  have  been  found  in  Switzerland,  in  Italy,  in 
France,  in  Ireland,  and  Scotland.  This  strange  mode  of 
dwelling  seems  to  have  been  common  in  Southern  and 
Western  Europe,  and  to  have  been  intended  as  security 
against  the  attacks  of  beasts  of  prey,  as  well  as  from  the 
inroads  of  hostile  tribes.  Such  dwellings  were  little 
known,  and  attracted  little  attention,  until  the  lakes  and 
rivers  in  Switzerland  sank  lower  than  usual  in  the  winter 
of  1853-54;  and  the  inhabitants  bordering  the  lake  of 
Zurich  attempted  to  reclaim  some  of  the  shore  by  dredg- 
ing the  mud  to  form  an  embankment,  when  they  unex- 
pectedly found  not  only  wooden  piles  driven  into  the  bed 
of  the  lake,  but  hammers,  celts,  and  various  implements. 
These  hamlets  built  above  the  waters  having  at  times 
taken  fire,  many  of  the  implements  and  utensils  sank 
into  the  lake ;  and  these  relics  have  become  the  fossils 
by  which  we  interpret  the  history  of  the  people  and  esti- 
mate its  length — they  aire  the  clew  through  the  labyrinth 
of  prehistoric  times  by  which  the  archaeologist  reaches  a 
dim  knowledge  of  the  past. 

Finding  stone  implements  in  connection  with  lake 
dwellings,  while  in  others  those  of  bronze  predominate, 
archaeologists  have  given  them  an  historical  significance, 
assigning,  by  a  kind  of  random  estimate,  to  the  stone- 
period  an  age  of  from  5,000  to  7,000,  and  to  the  bronze 
age  from  3,000  to  4,000  years — in  all,  from  8,oco  to 
1 1,000  years,  without  including  any  portion  of  the  iron 


262  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

age.  Precisely  the  same  kind  of  elasticity  prevails  in 
the  calculations  of  the  archaeologist,  of  which  we  com- 
plained in  the  reasoning  of  the  geologist.  M.  Morlot 
reaches  his  conclusions  by  assuming  that  the  Tiniere,  a 
torrent  which  flows  into  the  lake  of  Geneva,  had  formed 
its  delta  of  gravel  and  sand  with  uniform  regularity,  and 
that  layers  of  vegetable  soil  had  been  spread  by  the  slow 
hand  of  many  centuries ;  so  that  when  the  cutting  for  a 
railway  laid  open  a  section,  thirty-two  feet  in  depth,  he 
had  only  to  assume  for  the  Roman  period  an  antiquity  of 
sixteen  or  eighteen  centuries,  and  the  rest  was  easy ;  to 
add  thousands  was  natural,  and  contradiction  was  diffi- 
cult. M.  Troy  on  makes  similar  calculations,  but  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  hesitates  to  accept  any  of  them.* 

Those  lake  dwellings  which  are  nearer  us — the  cran- 
noges  of  Ireland  and  Scotland — are  acknowledged  to  be 
of  recent  date.  Sir  John  Lubbock  himself  admits  that 
they  are  "  referable  to  a  much  later  period  than  those  of 
Switzerland,"  and  that  "  they  are  frequently  mentioned  in 
early  history."  The  O'Neil,  as  late  as  1567,  is  reported 
to  have  fortifications  "  in  sartin  ffi'esliwater  loghesy^  Is 
it  not  all  but  inconceivable  that  rude  lake  dwellings 
should  continue  through  a  period  of  5,000  or  7,000  years, 
and  that  through  all  that  time  agricultural  and  pastoral 
'ife  should  in  any  one  territory  be  non-existent  ?  Lake 
dwellings  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  maintenance  of 
flocks  and  herds ;  and  to  suppose  that  hunters  only  lived 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  p.  29. 

t  See  an  interesting  chapter  on  Lake  Dwellings  in  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
"Prehistoric  Times,"  second  edition,  pp.  166-214. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  263 

through  that  long  and  dreary  period,  is  utterly  incompat- 
ible with  the  growth  of  population  on  the  one  hand,  and 
with  the  supply  of  food  by  the  chase  on  the  other. 
Herodotus  described  lake  dwellings,  about  320  years 
b.  c,  similar  to  those  of  the  Swiss,  as  prevailing  among 
the  Paeonians  in  Thrace ;  and  although  he  has  informed 
us  that  the  Paeonians  lived  in  them  with  their  families 
and  horses,  the  fact  does  not  nullify  the  opinion  that  the 
extension  of  this  system,  or  anything  like  it,  for  thou- 
sands of  years,  is  utterly  at  variance  with  the  laws  of  the 
nomadic  or  pastoral  life.  Similar  habitations  are  still  to 
be  found  among  the  Papoos  in  New  Guinea  and  in  the 
straits  of  Malacca.* 

Such  dwellings  prove  the  enduring  character  of  cer- 
tain habits  of  life  in  the  midst  of  an  advancing  tide  of 
improvement ;  nothing  more.  They  cannot  be  connect- 
ed with  the  meagre  skill  of  the  stone  age,  as  it  has  been 
usually  represented,  because  the  very  maintenance  of 
such  dwellings  presupposes  agricultural  or  pastoral  sup- 
plies, and  the  facts  which  have  been  brought  to  light  con- 
firm this  view.  In  short,  when  all  the  evidence  which 
these  lake  dwellings  furnish — embracing  stone  and  bronze 
implements ;  fragments  of  rude  pottery ;  remains  of 
wheat,  and  barley,  and  flax,  which  must  have  been  intro- 
duced from  Asia ;  the  bones  of  animals  whose  repre- 
sentatives still  live  in  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Urus,  which,  however,  had  not  become  extinct  until  after 
Caesar's  time ;  the  thickness  of  mud  deposites  in  the 
delta  of  Tiniere ;    the  rate  at  which  the  land  has  en- 

*  "Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance,"  p.  184. 


264  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

croached  on  the  lake  of  Brienne ;  and  the  growth  and 
movements  of  mosses  or  bogs  within  even  historic  times — 
has  been  carefully  sifted  and  weighed,  the  mere  idea  of 
5,000  or  7,000  years  of  such  supposed  facts  resulting  at 
last  in  the  evolution  of  a  bronze  age  is  absurd  ;  it  is 
without  a  vestige  of  that  support  which  should  entitle  it 
to  any  acknowledgment  in  a  strictly  scientific  inquiry. 

As  the  Danish  mounds  and  lake  dwellings  have  been 
introduced  to  give  evidence  in  favor  of  man's  antiquity, 
by  some  whose  attainments  command  universal  respect, 
it  is  necessary  to  make  here  one  or  two  additional  refer- 
ences to  the  subject.  When  considering  the  origin  and 
progress  of  civilization,  we  directed  attention  to  the  stone, 
bronze,  and  iron  periods,  in  their  relation  to  man's  power 
of  invention  in  the  savage  state,  and  his  subsequent 
advancement  :*  but  it  may  be  of  importance  to  notice, 
briefly,  what  did  not  then  fall  logically  within  the  limits 
of  our  exposition,  viz.,  the  relation  of  these  distinct  peri- 
ods to  the  general  question  of  Time.  What  evidence  do 
the  supposed  periods  give  on  behalf  of  a  remote  antiquity 
for  man  ? 

While  the  theory  of  distinct  periods  gives  convenient 
forms  of  expression,  and  is  useful  in  indicating,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  progress  in  mechanical  and  industrial  arts,  it 
assumes  what  has  been  already  proved  to  be  untenable  in 
either  fact  or  principle— -first,  that  man's  origin  was  lower 
than  that  of  the  lowest  savage  now  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  ;  second,  that  he  has  slowly  crept  upward  through 
the  stone  and  bronze  periods  to  his  present  civilized  state ; 

*  Chapters  9  and  10. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  265 

and  third,  that  each  successive  period  emerged  from  that 
which  preceded,  only  after  it  had  run  a  course  of  some 
thousands  of  years.  It  is  the  last  assumption  which  falls 
to  be  noticed ;  the  first  and  second  have  been  already 
considered. 

On  every  student  anxious  to  know  the  truth  of  his- 
tory, irrespective  of  collateral  interests,  the  question  nat- 
urally presses  itself,  What  of  Asia  and  Africa  ?  While 
it  is  instructive  to  examine  facts  in  Europe,  and  to  found 
on  them  sweeping  generalizations,  is  it  fair  to  excend  these 
to  countries  whose  facts,  so  far  as  they  have  been  yet 
ascertained,  suggest  a  different  conclusion  ?  It  is  well 
known  that,  during  at  least  part  of  the  stone  age  in 
Europe,  the  East  was  resplendent  in  its  civilization. 
How  arrange  the  facts  of  African  and  Asiatic  civilization 
so  as  to  make  them  fit  into  this  theory  ?  In  some  parts 
of  the  world,  the  stone  age  still  lingers.  Suppose  that 
three  hundred,  or  only  a  hundred  years  ago,  its  tools  had 
been  buried,  and  explorers  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape 
Horn  brought  up  from  diggings  some  stone  implements, 
what  value  could  be  attached  to  the  reasoning  based  upon 
them  as  to  a  distant  age  ?  Not  dissimilar  is  the  weak- 
ness of  much  of  the  recent  reasoning  as  to  periods  which 
we  have  been  constrained  to  study  ;  it  does  not  make 
allowance  for  the  coexistence  in  the  world  of  tribes  using 
stone  implements,  of  communities  using  bronze,  and  of 
nations  using  iron.  The  advocates  of  the  succession  of 
such  periods  by  a  kind  of  lineal  descent,  fail  in  their 
proof  ;  nay,  rather,  are  answered  by  their  own  admissions 
that  when  bronze  implements  have  appeared,  they  have 


266  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

been  introduced  by  some  foreign  hand  into  a  stone-using 
tribe.  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  admitted,  as  already  sta- 
ted, (p.  187,)  that  bronze  was  introduced,  not  invented,  in 
Europe ;  and  Worsaae  is  still  more  explicit  on  this  sub- 
ject, when  he  states  what  really  is  an  unanswerable  refu- 
tation of  the  whole  theory  of  period-descent,  a  refutation 
all  the  more  decided  because  coming  from  one  who  is 
not  only  highly  distinguished  as  an  antiquarian,  but 
known  as  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Period  theory.  "  We 
must  not,  however,"  he  says,  "by  any  means,  believe  that 
the  bronze  period  developed  itself  among  the  aborigines 
gradually,  or  step  by  step,  out  of  the  stone  period.  On 
the  contrary,  instead  of  the  simple  and  uniform  imple- 
ments and  ornaments  of  stone,  bone,  and  amber,  we  meet 
suddenly  with  a  number  and  variety  of  splendid  weapons, 
implements,  and  jewels  of  bronze,  and  sometimes,  indeed, 
with  jeivels  of  gold.  The  transition  is  so  abrupt,  that 
from  the  antiquities  we  are  enabled  to  conclude,  what  in 
the  following  pages  will  be  further  developed,  that  the 
bronze  period  must  have  commenced  with  the  irruption 
of  a  new  race  of  people,  possessing  a  higher  degree  of 
cultivation  than  the  earlier  inhabitants."*  Not  only  is 
this  introduction  or  irruption  acknowledged,  but  the  con- 
temporaneous use  of  stone  and  bronze  implements  and 
utensils  is  distinctly  specified.  "  The  universal  diffusion 
of  metals  could  only  take  place  by  degrees.  Since  in 
Denmark  itself  neither  copper  nor  tin  occurs — so  that 
these  metals,  being  introduced  from  other  countries,  were 
of  necessity  expensive — the  poorer  classes  continued  for 

*  "  Primeval  A7itiquities  of  Denmark,"  by  J.  J.  A.  Worsaae,  p.  24. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  267 

a  long  series  of  years  to  make  use  of  stone  as  their  mate- 
rial."* That  they  "continued  for  a  long  period,"  is  an 
admission  which  shows  how  uncertain  must  be  all  calcu- 
lations as  to  Time,  for  if,  in  any  locality,  stone  imple- 
ments left  by  the  poor  had  been  discovered  long  after 
bronze  was  used  by  the  higher  classes,  a  miscalculation 
of  some  thousand  years  might  possibly  be  made. 

Engelhardt,  referring  to  the  same  sudden  change,  as 
it  is  seen  especially  in  burial  customs,  says  that  it  cannot 
be  accounted  for  by  the  peaceful  intercourse  of  civilized 
nations,  and  that  the  time  of  the  change  cannot  be  deter- 
mined by  the  antiquities  themselves,  because  neither  coins 
nor  inscriptions  have  been  discovered. 

And  what  is  worthy  of  special  notice  is,  that  Engel- 
hardt acknowledges  an  equally  complete  and  sudden 
change  in  the  introduction  of  the  iron  age.  There  is  no 
slow  transition.  "The  differences,"  he  says,  "are  too 
striking.  We  look  in  vain  for  points  of  resemblance  be- 
tween the  antiquities  of  the  two  periods  with  regard  to 
shape  and  ornamentation."!  Thus,  according  to  these 
Danish  archaeologists,  there  is  no  proof  whatever  of  the 
same  race  passing  upwards  from  the  stone  to  the  bronze, 
or  from  the  bronze  to  the  iron  age,  without  some  new 
impulse,  or  adequate  external  force.  Nor  do  the  leading 
Danish  antiquarians  indulge  in  extravagant  claims  as  to 
time.  Worsaae  attributes  "  to  the  stone  age  an  antiquity 
of  at  least  three  thousand  years ;"    and  he  adds,  that 

*  "  Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark,"  by  J.  J.  A.  Worsaae,  p.  24. 
t  "  Denmark  in  the  Early  Iron  Age,  illustrated  by  Recent  Discoveries 
in  the  Peat-Mosses  of  Slesvig,"  by  Conrad  Engelhardt,  p.  7.     1866. 


268  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

"there  are  geological  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
bronze  period  must  have  prevailed  in  Denmark  five  or 
six  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ."*  This 
estimate  is  easily  reducible  within  the  general  limits  of 
Bible  chronology ;  and  Engelhardt  is  equally  cautious  in 
making  the  first  or  oldest  division  of  the  iron  age  about 
250  b.  c.  The  transition  period  he  extends  to  the  sev- 
enth century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  the  late  iron  age 
to  the  introduction  of  Christianity  in  Denmark,  about 
the  year  1000. 

But  even  this  modified  and  comparatively  unobjec- 
tionable view  is  not  accepted  by  some  of  our  more  expe- 
rienced archaeologists.  While  they  admit  that  stone  im- 
plements are  found  abundantly  in  all  parts  of  the  British 
Islands,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  that  "  nothing 
seems  more  natural,  not  only  in  a  very  rude  state  of  soci- 
ety, but  also  in  much  more  civilized  times,  when  commu- 
nication between  different  parts  of  the  country  was  slow, 
and  metal  was  not  always  to  be  had,  than  to  form  rough 
tools  or  weapons,  especially  for  the  chase,  of  hard  stones," 
they  are  of  opinion  that  "it  has  been  assumed  rather  has- 
tily that,  where  we  find  these  implements  of  stone,  the 
people  to  whom  they  belonged  were  not  acquainted  with 
the  art  of  working  metals."*  Mr.  Wright,  whose  decis- 
ion is  of  great  weight,  gives  a  series  of  examples  to 
show  that  the  stone  implements  have  mingled  with  bronze 
and  iron,  and  that  they  have  been  continued  to  a  recent 

*  "Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark,"  p.  135. 

t  "The  Celt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Briton,"  by  Thomas  Wright,  Esq., 
pp.  69,  72. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  269 

date — to  the  battle  of  Hastings,  for  instance,  in  England, 
and  to  the  wars  of  Wallace  in  Scotland.*  And  he  gives 
it,  also,  as  his  opinion,  that  many  of  the  flint  implements 
could  not  have  been  prepared  as  they  have  been,  without 
metal  instruments. 

Obscure  as  many  of  the  local  facts  are,  and  uncon- 
nected as  are  the  records  of  the  different  races,  enough 
is  becoming  distinctly  known  not  only  to  make  us  hesi- 
ate  about  admitting  the  sequence  of  these  ages  in  the  line 
which  the  theorists  demand,  but  to  confirm  our  belief  in 
the  general  chronological  outline  given  in  the  Bible,  to 
which  we  have  already  referred.  "  The  utmost  that  these 
remains  enable  us  to  do,"  says  an  able  writer,  "  is  to  con- 
clude something  of  certain  races  in  a  corner  of  the  world, 
probably,  at  any  rate  possibly,  driven  into  it  from  earlier 
seats ;  they  contribute  but  little  light  to  the  larger  and 
more  interesting  questions  connected  with  the  early  con- 
dition and  progress  of  mankind.  And  these  remains 
themselves  are,  for  the  present,  hopelessly  isolated.  All 
existing  collections,  numerous  and  abundant  as  they  are, 
fail  to  supply  a  thread  which  connects  one  group  with 
another,  either  in  the  line  of  descent  or  in  collateral  rela- 
tionship. We  cannot  find  the  clew  to  pass  from  stone  to 
bronze,  or  from  bronze  to  iron.  Further,  it  is  very  pre- 
carious to  make  rudeness  in  workmanship  or  difference 
in  material  a  test  of  relative  antiquity.  .  .  .  Again,  the 
relation,  in  point  of  time,  of  bronze  to  iron,  is  far  too 
uncertain  to  warrant  us  in  making  an  age  of  iron  after  an 
age  of  bronze.     It  may  be  probable  that  in  certain  races 

*  "The  Celt  the  Roman,  and  the  Briton,"  p.  72. 
23* 


270  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

bronze  was  used  before  iron  in  preference  to  it,  or,  at 
any  rate,  instead  of  it ;  but,  as  a  general  rule,  we  can  but 
guess,  and  our  grounds  for  guessing  are  not  very  good. 
We  are  in  absolute  ignorance  of  everything  connected 
with  the  first  use  of  metals  ;  how  and  when  they  were 
applied  to  the  purposes  of  daily  life  ;  under  what  circum- 
stances of  discovery,  or  foreign  introduction  and  teach- 
ing, they  came  to  be  employed  in  Europe."* 

There  is  a  very  general  concurrence  of  opinion  among 
ethnologists,  that  the  successive  advances  of  population 
over  Europe  have  originated  in  Asia ;  that  the  probable 
seats  of  early  civilization  were  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  the 
Euphrates,  the  Tigris,  the  Indus,  and  the  Ganges  ;  and 
that  the  rapid  changes  in  mechanical  or  industrial  arts 
which  unexpectedly  meet  the  archaeologist  in  Western 
Europe,  are  traceable  to  Eastern  impulse.  Archaeologi- 
cal science  is  adjusting  its  inferences  regarding  periods 
to  a  wider  induction  of  facts,  and  it  is  cheering  to  find 
that  the  adjustment  is  coming  closer  to  the  Scripture 
record.  Students  in  different  sections  are  so  approach- 
ing each  other,  that  the  light  of  their  more  accurate  con- 
clusions is  beginning  to  blend  with  the  light  which  the 
Bible  has  been  for  ages  shedding  on  the  antiquity  of  man. 

Our  attention  has  hitherto  been  exclusively  directed 
to  the  evidence  connected  with  the  rude  skill  and  practi- 
ces of  either  apparently  or  really  barbarous  tribes ;  but 
there  remains  for  examination  another  important  depart- 
ment, which  is  dependent  for  its  facts  on  the  existence  of 
a  high  degree  of  civilization.     It  is 

*  "Saturday  Review,"  August  12,  1S65,  p.  20S. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  271 


III.    THE    EVIDENCE  FROM  ANCIENT  MONUMENTS  AND 
INSCRIPTIONS. 

As  the  monuments  of  Egypt  alone  have  supplied  the 
chief  proof  which  has  been  adduced  in  support  of  man's 
antiquity,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  examine  in  detail  sub- 
ordinate or  incidental  evidences  of  the  same  kind  obtain- 
ed in  other  countries ;  nor  will  it,  indeed,  be  necessary  to 
spend  much  time  with  the  evidence  which  Egypt  has  sup- 
plied, because  the  reasoning  which  was  for  some  years 
eagerly  maintained  has  been  almost  altogether  abandoned. 
We  shall  have  occasion,  however,  to  refer  more  particu- 
larly to  the  monuments  and  inscriptions,  not  only  of 
Egypt,  but  of  other  countries,  when  inquiring  to  what 
extent,  in  the  light  of  History,  the  minuter  as  well  as 
the  more  general  statements  of  the  Bible  are  receiving 
merited  recognition  and  acknowledgment. 

Nothing  could  be  more  natural,  we  admit,  than  the 
demand  on  the  part  of  the  rejecter  of  the  Bible,  that  the 
Christian  should  look  at  the  Egyptian  monuments  and 
inscriptions,  and  acknowledge  the  likelihood  that  they 
told  of  an  earlier  history  for  man  than  the  Bible  gave. 
The  pyramids  of  Egypt,  with  their  overawing  and  som- 
bre vastness  ;  her  temples,  with  their  sphinxes,  colon- 
nades, and  painted  chambers ;  her  palaces  and  obelisks, 
with  their  traces  of  exquisite  culture,  scattered  with  most 
amazing  profusion ;  her  mysterious  hieroglyphics  and 
papyrus-rolls  ;  have  made  her  truly  "a  land  of  wonders," 
and  have  most  naturally  suggested  the  inquiry,  Since 
ruins  so  vast,  representing  in  varied  forms  art  so  ad- 


272  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

vanced,  have  existed  for  so  many  centuries,  what  may 
have  been  the  range  of  preceding  history  that  created  a 
civilization  which,  after  all,  they  only  in  part  reveal  ?  It 
is  indicated  in  the  Bible  that,  even  in  Abraham's  time, 
remarkable  advances  had  been  made;  for  when  he  went 
to  Egypt  there  was  a  completely-organized  nation,  with 
its  king  and  princes,  its  gold  and  silver,  and  its  abundant 
agricultural  produce.  In  all  the  aspects  of  ancient  Egypt, 
there  appeared  so  many  tokens  of  a  remotely  early  civili- 
zation, that  no  surprise  need  be  felt  at  the  urgency  with 
which  infidel  writers  continued  to  ply  Christians  to  yield 
the  Bible  as  historically  untrustworthy,  nor  at  the  em- 
phasis with  which  they  asserted  that  if  these  monuments 
could  only  find  an  interpreter,  the  writings  of  Moses 
would  soon  be  thoroughly  confuted.  To  the  questions, 
How  long  since  these  pyramids  were  built  ?  and,  What 
mean  these  inscriptions  ?  the  Christian  apologist  could 
give  no  answer;  and  his  silence  was  reckoned  equivalent 
to  bigotry  or  defeat.  But  the  monuments  have  at  last 
found  interpreters,  and  the  Christian  has  obtained  his 
required  answer. 

In  considering  the  early  civilization  of  Egypt  and 
other  countries,  it  must  be  granted  that  there  are  no 
dates  by  which  we  can  determine  the  length  of  time 
between  the  Deluge  or  the  Dispersion  at  the  building  of 
the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  the  visit  of  Abraham  to  Egypt. 
It  has,  therefore,  been  variously  estimated.  The  Vatican 
copy  of  the  Septuagint  gives  1,172  years  as  the  length 
between  the  Deluge  and  the  70th  year  of  Terah,  Abra- 
ham's father;   Josephus,   1,002;   and  the  Hebrew,  only 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  273 

about  427  years.  The  difference  is  very  great  between 
the  first  date  and  the  last ;  but  we  may  fairly  assume  that 
a  much  longer  period  elapsed  between  the  Deluge  and 
the  time  at  which  Abraham  visited  Egypt.  If  we  even 
restrict  ourselves  to  the  lowest  Septuagint  number,  there 
is  a  period  of  about  1,200  years  for  the  outcome  of  Egyp- 
tian civilization,  as  it  is  represented  in  Abraham's  time. 
We  do  not,  however,  impose  any  such  restriction  ;  the 
period  may  have  been  greatly  longer ;  the  Bible  does  not 
settle  those  early  dates,  nor  does  it  supply  reliable  his- 
torical data,  until  the  time  of  Saul  and  the  building  of 
the  Temple  by  Solomon.  We  do  not  hesitate,  therefore, 
to  give  such  scope  to  the  Bible  chronology  between  the. 
Deluge  and  the  time  of  Abraham's  visit  to  Egypt,  as 
shall  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  all  the  facts  of  its  early 
civilization.  As  the  numbers  given  in  the  Bible  have 
been  expressed  by  alphabetic  letters,  which  are,  in  sev- 
eral instances,  like  each  other,  they  may  have  been  inter- 
changed ;  and  not  only  may  differences  have  thus  arisen, 
but  the  time  also  may  have  been  unduly  shortened.  As 
the  Bible  is  not  specific  in  its  early  dates,  none  of  the 
chronological  systems  which  have  been  published  have 
divine  authority ;  and  we  violate  no  principle  in  prefer- 
ring whatever  period  gives  the  fullest  and  most  natural 
range  for  the  development  of  Egyptian  civilization  prior 
to  the  times  of  Abraham  and  Joseph. 

It  is,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  kept  in  view,  that  all 
the  skill  which  those  had  reached  who  lived  before  the 
Deluge,  their  knowledge  of  writing,  (probably  in  different 
forms,)   their  power  of  representing  ideas  and  objects 


274  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

pictorially,  and  their  notions  of  domestic  and  social  or- 
ganization, would,  in  all  likelihood,  be  transferred  to  the 
New  World  by  Noah  and  his  family.  The  human  race 
would  thus  enter  on  a  fresh  course  after  the  Flood,  not 
with  everything  to  learn,  but  with  the  ideas,  the  habits, 
and  the  mechanical  skill  of  that  ancient  civilization  of 
which  striking  glimpses  are  obtained  in  the  first  chapters 
of  Genesis. 

While  holding  this  view,  and  admitting  the  necessity 
of  an  elongated  early  chronology,  we  refuse  to  rush  to 
the  opposite  extreme,  and  to  accept  or  advocate  a  period 
of  six  or  seven  thousand  years  between  the  Deluge  and 
the  time  of  Abraham,  not  only  because  it  is  unnecessary 
for  such  facts  as  are  known,  but  because,  in  that  time, 
according  to  the  ordinary  laws  regulating  the  growth  of 
nations,  there  would  have  been  other  revolutions  than 
those  which  have  been  recorded  both  in  the  Bible  and  in 
profane  histories. 

It  is  necessary  to  inquire  here  whether  the  monu- 
ments themselves  unfold  anything  like  the  history  which 
opponents  of  the  Bible  have  claimed.  While  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  pyramids  were  built  in  ages  so  remote  as 
to  baffle  research,  and  that  the  mysterious  inscriptions 
on  monuments  and  on  the  papyrus-rolls,  if  only  once  in- 
terpreted, would  unfold  a  history  which  should  confound 
the  defenders  of  the  Bible,  strangely  enough,  in  the  prov- 
idence of  God,  the  age  of  the  pyramids  has  been  deter- 
mined, and  the  inscriptions  have  been  largely  deciphered, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  vindicate  the  Bible  and  place  legiti- 
mate inferences  beyond  cavil  or  objection. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  275 

That  which  is  held  to  be  the  oldest  pyramid,  has  been 
proved  by  Sir  John  Herschel  to  have  been  built  as  lata 
as  between  2 171  and  2123  b.  c.  Professor  Piazzi  Smyth 
has  confirmed  the  conclusion.  By  astronomical  science 
the  date  has  been  established,  and  the  idle  speculations 
about  remote  ages  have  been  dissipated.  There  are,  it 
is  true,  some  monuments  which  are  supposed  to  be  older 
than  this  great  pyramid;  as,  for  instance,  the  pyramid  of 
Saqqarah,  the  tomb  of  King  Senta,  and  the  statues  of  the 
family  of  Sefra,  belonging  respectively  to  the  first,  sec- 
ond, and  third  dynasties  ;  but  two  centuries,  at  most,  are 
held  sufficient  to  represent  the  whole  difference.  Cham- 
pollion  has  given  it  as  his  opinion  that  "  no  Egyptian 
monument  is  really  older  than  the  year  2200  b.  c."  Ma- 
riette  Bey  has  adduced  evidence  in  favor  of  a  like  gen- 
eral conclusion  ;  and  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson  has  decided  that 
few  paintings  or  sculptures  remain  of  an  age  prior  to  the 
accession  of  Osirtesen  I.,  whom  he  supposes  to  have 
been  contemporary  with  Joseph,  and  to  have  ascended 
the  throne  about  the  year  b.  c.  1740.  The  tombs  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  pyramids,  and  those  hewn  in  the  rock  near 
Oasr  e'Sy'ad,  the  ancient  Chenoboscion,  he  regards  as 
places  of  sepulture  of  individuals  who  lived  in  the  time 
of  Suphis  and  his  immediate  successors,  and  as  having, 
therefore,  a  date  about  the  year  2090  or  2050  b.  c* — that 
is,  before  the  time  of  Abraham.  The  claims  of  a  greatly 
older  date,  because  of  stones  in  the  area  of  the  pyramid, 
he  sets  aside  as  without  support.     "It  is  evident,"   he 

*  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,"  by  Sir  J.  G. 
Wilkinson,  vol.  3,  pp.  277,  278. 


276  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

says,  "that  the  tombs  built  of  stone,  which  stand  in  the 
area  before  and  behind  the  great  pyramid,  were  erected 
after  it  had  been  commenced,  if  not  completed,  as  their 
position  is  made  to  conform  to  that  monument ;  and  that 
those  hewn  in  the  rock  at  the  same  place  were  not  of  an 
older  period,  is  shown  by  the  style  of  the  sculptures  and 
the  names  of  the  kings."*  That  date  must  be  the  start- 
ing-place of  the  Bible  student — if  he  go  backward,  there 
is  hopeless  confusion ;  if  he  go  forward,  there  is  increas- 
ing light. 

This  important  decision  as  to  the  date  of  the  oldest 
pyramid,  has  been  amply  vindicated  by  the  inscriptions 
that  have  been  recently  deciphered.  These  inscriptions, 
with  their  mysterious  hieroglyphics  or  sacred  sculpture, 
and  their  hieratic  characters,  which  no  scholar  could 
interpret  or  explain,  were  for  many  centuries  wistfully 
examined,  but  in  vain.  Those  whose  attainments  and 
skill  were  the  most  likely  to  command  a  solution  of  these 
historical  enigmas,  were  completely  baffled ;  and  the 
rejecters  of  the  Bible,  as  unworthy  of  belief  in  even  its 
historical  statements,  were  all  pointing  in  triumph  to  the 
mysterious  monuments  of  Egypt  as  probable  witnesses 
of  remotest  ages,  when,  apparently  by  accident,  the  means 
of  interpreting  them  were  obtained.  The  circumstances 
were  no  less  remarkable  than  the  time  in  the  controversy 
was  opportune.  The  French  Government  had  sent  along 
with  the  army,  in  its  expedition  to  Egypt  in  1798,  a  num- 
ber of  men  distinguished  in  the  various  branches  of  sci- 

*  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians,"  by  Sir  J.  G. 
Wilkinson,  vol.  3,  p.  278. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  277 

ence  and  literature,  to  inquire  into  the  antiquities  of  the 
country.  Engineers  and  draftsmen  were  sent  to  help 
them — every  facility  was  granted  to  secure  success — and 
the  reports,  with  the  monuments  sent  home,  aroused  pub- 
lic attention  not  in  France  only,  but  over  all  Europe. 

In  digging  the  foundation  of  Fort  St.  Julian,  near 
Rosetta,  the  French  engineers  came  on  a  huge  block  of 
black  basalt,  having  inscriptions  which  at  once  awakened 
the  greatest  interest  and  the  liveliest  hopes.  This  pre- 
cious monument  was  afterwards  taken  from  the  French 
by  the  English  fleet,  and  in  1799  deposited  in  the  British 
Museum  as  the  "  Rosetta  Stone."  Its  importance  it 
would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate.  As  its  history  is 
well  known,  no  fuller  references  need  be  made  to  it  than 
are  barely  necessary  for  our  argument.  It  has  three 
distinct  inscriptions.  The  uppermost  one  is  in  hiero- 
glyphics much  mutilated ;  the  second  is  in  the  enchorial 
or  demotic  character — that  is,  in  the  language  early  spo- 
ken by  the  people,  but  afterwards  lost ;  and  the  third  is 
in  Greek,  and  it  was  understood  to  be  a  translation  of  the 
hieroglyphics.  For  about  twenty  years  the  problem  re- 
mained unsolved  ;  the  Rosetta  stone  continued  a  mystery, 
notwithstanding  the  earnest  study  of  the  most  accom- 
plished scholars  in  Europe,  who  had  obtained  copies  of 
it.  While  many  a  burning  brow  had  ached  in  the  attempt 
to  solve  the  problem — while  Champollion,  a  young  French- 
man, having  with  wonderful  enthusiasm  studied  Egyptian 
antiquities,  had  published,  in  1814,  his  learned  work, 
"  L'Egyptesous  les  Pharaons,"  containing  a  collection  oi 
the  geographical  notices  occurring  in  Coptic  MSS.  col- 

24 


278  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

lated  with  those  of  ancient  and  modern  authors,  and 
while,  by  the  research  and  ingenuity  which  his  work 
evinced,  he  had  given  fresh  impulse  to  many  an  ardent 
student — infidel  archaeologists,  and  mere  litterateurs, 
whose  attainments  in  any  science  were  slight,  were  alike 
eager  in  making  the  most  of  their  opportunity,  by  turn- 
ing every  new  discovery  to  account  against  the  Bible,  by 
challenging  Christian  apologists  to  speak  out  in  defence 
of  its  historical  statements,  and  by  meeting  their  silence 
with  ridicule,  sarcasm,  and  merciless  invective. 

The  claims  of  an  immense  antiquity  were  urged  with 
as  much  tenacity  of  purpose  as  have  been  the  demands 
of  the  geologist  for  millions  on  millions  of  years,  and  two 
of  the  strongest  proofs  then  adduced  were  the  once  famous 
Zodiacs  of  Denderah  and  Esneh.  The  facts  may  be 
briefly  recalled,  as  showing  us  the  necessity  there  is  for 
caution,  and  the  encouragement  there  is  for  confidence 
in  the  Bible. 

When,  in  1798,  General  Bonaparte,  with  his  French 
soldiery  and  his  literary  men,  entered  the  small  town  of 
Denderah,  in  Central  Egypt,  he  found  two  temples,  one 
large  and  one  small,  covered  with  hieroglyphics  and 
images  of  deities.  The  literary  men  not  only  copied  the 
drawings,  but  carried  away  the  whole  ceiling  of  the  small 
temple,  and  when  it  reached  Paris,  ardent  archaeologists 
hastily  scanned  it ;  they  applied  to  certain  marks  in  the 
inscription  some  principles  of  astronomical  calculation, 
and  inferred  that  the  time  at  which  the  temple  was 
erected  was  17,000  years  before  the  Christian  era! 
There  was  great  excitement;  volume  followed  volume 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  279 

on  the  subject;  pamphlets  and  newspapers  discussed  the 
theme  as  the  great  discovery  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  flocked  to  the  National  Library 
in  Paris  to  see  the  antediluvian  monument ;  and  when 
Charles  X.,  in  order  to  save  it  from  destruction,  placed 
it  in  a  dark  chamber,  skeptics  declaimed  fiercely  against 
keeping  the  people  from  becoming  enlightened,  and  railed 
against  belief  in  a  Deluge  or  in  Creation  as  stated  in  the 
Bible,  and  especially  against  the  impositions  of  a  "wily 
priesthood."  "Now  you  can  see,"  they  said,  "that  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  contain,  from  beginning  to  end, 
a  series  of  lies." 

In  the  temple  of  Esneh,  another  of  the  "Zodiacs"  was 
discovered,  and  on  being  brought  to  France  and  examined, 
it  also  had  an  antiquity  of  1 7,000  years  assigned  to  it. 
The  dates,  however,  were  not  indisputable,  for  M.  Jom- 
ard  made  one  of  them  1923  b.  c,  M.  Dupuis  made  it 
4,000  years  old,  while  the  popular  inference  was  that  of 
M.  Gori,  who  assigned  17,000  years  as  assuredly  the 
right  age.  When  scholars  who  had  precisely  the  same 
data  came  to  conclusions  so  widely  different,  we  should 
have  supposed  that  comparatively  little  importance  would 
have  been  attached  to  the  proof  in  favor  of  great  antiquity  ; 
but  it  was  otherwise.  Their  reasoning  made  a  deep 
impression,  not  only  in  France,  but  in  Britain,  and  in  the 
whole  of  Europe,  and  the  oldest  date  found  the  fullest 
acceptance. 

For  a  time  there  was  no  answer;  but  it  came.  Dr. 
Young,  in  18 19,  published  the  results  of  his  patient  and 
laborious    investigations,    in   the    "Supplement    to    the 


2So  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  under  the  article  Egypt.  A 
beginning  in  the  right  direction  was  made,  and  in  a  short 
time,  through  the  labors  of  Dr.  Young  and  Champollion, 
the  Rosetta  Stone's  threefold  inscription  became  the  key- 
to  open  up  many  of  the  Egyptian  secrets. 

After  almost  incredible  toil,  Champollion,  having 
deciphered  the  hieroglyphics,  read  in  the  famous  inscrip- 
tion on  the  temple  of  Denderah,  the  name  and  titles  of 
Augustus  Ccesar!  showing  that  it  could  be  no  older  than 
the  time  when  Christianity  was  introduced ;  and  in  that 
of  the  temple  at  Esneh,  the  name  of  Antoninus  !  proving 
that,  instead  of  being  built  17,000  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  it  was  about  140  years  after  it !  There 
was  a  sudden  and  strange  collapse  over  all  Europe  of  the 
inflated  opposition  to  the  Bible,  which  this,  and  similar 
discoveries,  had  temporarily  sustained ;  and  it  is  now 
indisputable  that  all  the  six  Zodiacal  representatives 
which  have  been  discovered  in  Egypt,  are  traceable  to 
the  time  when  the  country  passed  through  the  hands  of 
the  Greeks,  and  that  their  origin  is  within  two  hundred 
years  of  the  Christian  era. 

As  we  thus  closely  follow  archaeological  guidance  to 
the  clearer  or  historic  side,  is  it  not  instructive  to  observe 
how,  at  the  outset,  mistakes  have  been  committed  similar 
to  those  which  we  noticed  on  the  geologic  side  ?  and  how 
correction  has  proceeded  from  the  very  science  whose 
principles  have  been  misapplied  in  promoting  error? 

The  exposing  of  erroneous  conclusions  was  only  part 
of  the  important  work  that  followed  the  acceptance  of 
the  methods  of  interpretation  which  Young  and  Cham- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  281 

pollion  had  introduced.  Rosellini,  Lepsius,  Sir  G. 
Wilkinson,  Birch,  and  others,  have  also  rendered  invalu- 
able service  in  deciphering  inscriptions,  and  the  result 
has  been  the  total  displacement  of  the  old  notion  regard- 
ing the  remote  antiquity  of  the  monuments  themselves. 

It  has  been  indisputably  ascertained  that  they  are  all 
of  comparatively  recent  date.  The  Rosetta  Stone  itself 
is  no  older  than  190  years  b.  c,  and  bears  on  it  the  well- 
known  names  of  "Ptolemy  and  Berenice,  the  Saviour 
gods."  It  ascribes  divine  honors  to  Ptolemy,  and  praises 
him  for  various  acts  of  liberality  and  wisdom  in  the 
earlier  years  of  his  reign. 

An  obelisk  which  has  been  brought  from  Philae  to 
England,  contained,  like  the  Rosetta  Stone,  an  inscrip- 
tion in  hieroglyphics  and  in  Greek;  about  the  latter 
there  was  no  difficulty,  and  the  hieroglyphic  section  has 
been  found  to  be  its  counterpart — "  a  supplication  of  the 
priests  of  Isis,  residing  at  Philae,  to  King  Ptolemy,  to 
Cleopatra  his  sister,  and  Cleopatra  his  wife."  The  in- 
scription brings  the  date  of  the  obelisk  near  to  the  time 
of  Christ,  and  the  oldest  remains  in  Philae  are  supposed 
to  be  only  about  390  b.  c. 

The  large  hieroglyphic  tablet  of  Abydos — "the 
Doomsday  Book  of  Egyptian  chronology,"  gives  a  gene- 
alogical list  of  the  immediate  predecessors  of  Rameses 
the  Great,  the  Sesostris  of  Herodotus,  who  ascended  the 
throne  as  late  as  1473  b.  c. 

Much  has  been  written  regarding  the  temples  of 
Karnac  and  their  inscriptions;  but  we  have  at  present 
to  do  merely  with  the  dates  of  their  erection — we  have  to 

24* 


282  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

question  them  only  as  to  the  past.  The  oldest  remains 
discovered  have  been  connected  with  the  period  of 
Osirtesen  I.,  about  1750  b.  c,  near  the  time  of  Joseph; 
while  the  principal  obelisks  and  the  avenue  of  the  sphinxes 
are  attributed  to  the  kings  who  reigned  about  1380  b.  c. 

Luxor — rendered  in  the  hieroglyphic  language,  the 
palaces — represents  in  its  ruins,  buildings  originally  of 
surpassing  grandeur.  It  was  connected  by  avenues  with 
Karnac,  and  the  date  of  its  palaces  has  been  proved  by 
inscriptions  to  be  that  of  Pharaoh  Amenophis  III.,  who 
reigned  about  1430  b.  c. 

These  brief  notices  afford  no  more  than  a  glimpse  of 
inscriptions  appearing  everywhere  amid  ruins,  which,  in 
their  extent  and  magnificence,  are  the  wonder  of  the 
world.  We  must  refer  to  works  on  the  subject  for  details 
as  to  "the  services  of  Aahmes-Penneben  at  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  dynasty ;  the  Eilethyian  inscription 
recording  the  wars  against  the  Hykshos  ;  the  tablet  of 
Karnac  containing  the  annals  of  Thothmes  III.;  the 
treaty  between  Rameses  II.  and  the  Khita ;  the  records 
of  making  tanks  or  wells  for  miners  at  the  gold  washings  ; 
the  records  of  the  star  risings  in  the  tomb  of  Rameses 
V.  ;"*  and  others  of  various  dates,  till  the  time  of  Cambyses 
and  Darius  Hystapes.  Enough  has  been  stated  for  our 
argument,  that  the  monuments  were  raised  within  the 
period  determined  for  the  oldest  pyamid.  As  the  origin 
of  these  ancient  ruins  seemed  to  be  lost  in  a  mysterious 
and  dateless  past,  the  urgency  with  which  infidel  archae- 
ologists  and   historians    demanded   that    the    Christian 

*  "  Egyptian  Hieroglyphs,"  by  S.  Birch,  p.  270. 
I 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  2S3 

student  should  yield  the  books  of  Moses  as  a  worthless 
fable,  was  not  unnatural ;  but  faith  and  patience  have 
been  rewarded  by  a  triumphant  settlement  of  the  question 
as  to  all  the  old  monuments  coming  easily  within  the 
Bible  record. 

A  careful  examination  of  many  papyrus-rolls  has 
educed  similar  results.  When  they  refer  to  historical 
events,  it  is  to  such  as  are  noticed  on  the  monuments ; 
and  while  some  contain  genealogies  of  kings  or  revenues 
of  temples,  and  some  give  details  of  the  foreign  conquests 
of  the  ancient  kings  of  Egypt,  others  are  filled  with 
repetitions  of  the  funeral  ritual  or  prayer  for  the  dead. 
One  or  two  illustrations  or  specimens  must  suffice.  In 
the  Papyrus  No  36,  of  the  Royal  Museum  at  Turin,  it  is 
written:  "In  the  36th  year,  on  the  18th  of  the  month 
Athyr,  of  the  reign  of  the  sovereigns  Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra 
his  sister,  the  children  of  Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra,  gods 
Epiphanes  ;"  and  this  is  followed  by  a  contract  for  the 
sale  of  the  profits  of  certain  religious  offerings.  In 
another  papyrus  fragment  in  the  same  Museum,  there  is 
a  list  of  fifty-four  kings  in  the  order  of  their  succession 
till  the  twelfth  dynasty.  In  one  of  the  papyri,  there  is 
a  metrical  account  of  the  campaign  of  Rameses  II. 
against  the  Khita,  written  in  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign ; 
and  in  another,  "a  series  of  communications  relating  to 
certain  transactions  in  Egypt  in  the  reign  of  Apepi,  as  a 
shepherd  king  ;  and  Tanaaken,  a  king  of  the  seventeenth 
dynasty,  relative  to  a  political  and  religious  controversy."* 

*  For  a  list  of  papyrus  records,  see  "Egyptian  Hieroglyphs,"  by  S. 
birch,  pp.  276,  279. 


284  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Some  papyrus-rolls,  which  were  originally  supposed  to 
have  been  written  at  a  very  early  period  in  Egyptian  history, 
have  been  assigned  by  modern  critics  a  very  recent  age. 
We  may  mention,  for  instance,  the  Ritual  for  the  Dead, 
which  was  at  one  time  regarded  as  extremely  old,  but  is 
now  considered  to  be  only  of  the  age  of  the  Ptolemies,  or 
even  later.  A  translation  of  this  long  funeral  papyrus  is 
given  by  Bunsen,  in  146  chapters,  to  which  those  may 
turn  who  desire  to  study  one  of  those  strange  documents 
which  shed  light  on  olden  religious  experiences  and 
aspirations.* 

Of  the  Demotic  writing,  or  that  once  common  dialect 
which,  in  Egypt,  superseded  the  sacred  language,  it  is 
almost  unnecessary  to  give  any  account.  Although  not 
introduced  until  the  time  of  the  Psammetici,  about  664 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  it  passed  away  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century  after  Christ,  having  had  a  course 
of  rather  more  than  900  years,  and  strangely  enough,  it 
is  now  less  known  than  that  by  which  it  was  immediately 
preceded,  and  its  comparative  recency  renders  its  testi- 
monies regarding  the  earliest  ages  of  Egyptian  history 
of  little  value. 

Out  of  those  materials  to  which  reference  has  been 
made,  the  lists  of  kings  on  the  monuments  and  in  the 
papyrus  rolls,  with  the  historical  arrangements  and  com- 
ments of  the  historians,  Manetho  and  Eratosthenes,  sys- 
tems of  chronology  have  been  constructed  by  such  dis- 
tinguished scholars  as  Bunsen,  Boeckh,  and  Rodier ;  but 
the  evidence  is  inadequate,  and  their  conclusions  have 
*  "Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  vol.  5,  pp.  161,  333. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  285 

therefore  been  unsatisfactory.  As  it  is  impossible  to 
say,  in  many  instances,  what  kings  were  contemporary, 
and  when  they  represent  successive  dynasties,  no  depen- 
dence can  be  placed  even  on  such  systems  as  have  been 
most  carefully  elaborated. 

Bunsen,  in  his  great  work,  "  Egypt's  Place  in  Uni- 
versal History,"  in  giving  a  "  Synopsis  of  the  Four  Ages 
of  the  World,"  claims  for  the  First  Age  from  20000  to 
iooco  b.  c. ;  and  for  the  Second,  from  10000  to  2878 
b.  c. :  and  he  enters  into  details  regarding  the  republi- 
can period,  the  succession  of  sacerdotal  and  hereditary 
kings,  and  the  formation  of  language.  Boeckh  is  singu- 
larly exact  with  his  chronological  system ;  its  first  peri- 
od, beginning  July  20,  30522  b.  c,  reaches  down  to  July 
20,  5703  b.  c. ;  and  thereafter  we  have  historic  times. 
Rodier  makes  definite  history  begin  24000  b.  c.  ;  but  he 
assumes  a  previous  long  indefinite  history,  in  which  the 
dates  cannot  be  determined.  After  the  year  24000  b.  c, 
the  dates  of  great  events,  as  he  supposes,  can  be  "rigor- 
ously verified." 

Let  any  one  take  the  pains  to  master  in  detail  these 

systems  of  chronology,  and  he  will  find  he  has  engaged 
in  a  most  profitless  task.  The  chronologists  do  not  agree 
among  themselves.  Who  is  to  be  preferred  ?  Whom 
are  we  to  follow  ?  Bunsen  has  said  of  Boeckh,  "  We  be- 
lieve that  no  Egyptologer  has  ever  ventured  upon  so  many 
and  such  bold  alterations  in  the  dates  of  Manetho  as  Boeckh 
was  obliged  to  propose,  in  order  to  make  good  his  as- 
sumption that  Manetho's  chronology  was  an  artificial 
system  of  applying  cyclical  numbers  to  Egyptian  histo- 


286  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ry."*  And  Bunsen's  own  method  has  been  severely  yet 
justly  handled,  by  no  less  an  authority  than  Sir  G.  C. 
Lewis.  After  referring  to  Sesostris  as  the  great  name 
of  Egyptian  antiquity,  and  as  dwarfing  into  insignificance 
the  builders  of  the  Pyramids,  he  adds,  "  Nevertheless,  his 
historical  identity  is  not  proof  against  the  dissolving  and 
recompounding  processes  of  the  Egyptological  method. 
Bunsen  distributes  him  into  portions,  and  identifies  each 
portion  with  a  different  king.  Sesostris,  as  we  have 
stated,  stands  in  Manetho's  list  as  third  king  of  the 
twelfth  dynasty,  at  3320  b.  c.  ;  and  a  notice  is  appended 
to  his  name,  clearly  identifying  him  with  the  Sesostris  of 
Herodotus.  Bunsen  first  takes  a  portion  of  him,  and 
identifies  it  with  Tosorthrus,  (written  Sesorthrus  by 
Eusebius,)  the  second  king  of  the  third  dynasty,  whose 
date  is  5 119  b.  c,  being  a  difference,  in  the  dates,  of 
seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years,  about  the  same 
interval  as  between  Augustus  Caesar  and  Napoleon.  He 
then  takes  another  portion,  and  identifies  it  with  Seson 
chosis,  a  king  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  ;  a  third  portion  of 
Sesostris  is  finally  assigned  to  himself.  It  seems  that 
these  three  fragments  make  up  the  entire  Sesostris."! 

In  making  this  quotation  regarding  Bunsen's  sys- 
tem of  Egyptian  chronology,  we  are  not  to  be  held  as 
undervaluing  his  wonderful  scholarship,  nor  the  noble 
service  which  he  has  rendered  to  Philosophy  and  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  when  we  have  wandered  with  Egyptologists 

*  "Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,"  vol.  5.,  p.  119. 
t  "  Survey  of  the  Astronomy  of  the  Ancients,"  by  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis, 
p.  369. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  287 

through  centuries  and  millenniums,  and  have  in  vain 
sought  for  some  solid  resting-place  in  historical  evidence, 
when  we  have  struggled  to  obtain  some  gleams  of  light  in 
the  midst  of  an  obscurity  which  is  never  broken  by  the 
best  efforts  of  our  guides,  we  heartily  say  "Amen"  to 
Sir  G.  C.  Lewis'  conclusion  :  "  Egyptology  has  a  his- 
torical method  of  its  own.  It  recognizes  none  of  the  or- 
dinary rules  of  evidence  ;  the  extent  of  its  demands  upon 
our  credulity  is  almost  unbounded.  Even  the  writers 
on  ancient  Italian  ethnology  are  modest  and  tame  in 
their  hypotheses,  compared  with  the  Egyptologists. 
Under  their  potent  logic  all  identity  disappears  ;  every- 
thing is  subject  to  become  anything  but  itself.  Suc- 
cessive dynasties  become  contemporary  dynasties  ;  one 
king  becomes  another  king,  or  several  other  kings,  or  a 
fraction  of  another  king  ;  one  name  becomes  another 
name  ;  one  number  becomes  another  number ;  one  place 
becomes  another  place.""* 

The  only  subject  remaining  to  be  noticed  as  having 
given  rise  to  much  discussion,  are  the  sculptured  figures 
which  represent  the  negro  head  and  features.  As  they 
appear  on  some  of  the  earliest  monuments,  it  has  been 
assumed  either  that  there  were  originally  distinct  races 
of  men,  or  that  there  was  a  greatly  longer  period  than 
had  hitherto  been  supposed  between  the  Flood  and  the 
first  evidences  of  Egyptian  civilization.  We  have  already 
considered  the  alleged  diversity  of  origin  for  the  human 
race,f  and  have  shown  the  doctrine  to  be  not  only  theo- 

*  "  Historical  Survey  of  the  Astronomy  of  the  Ancients,"  p.  36S. 
t  Chapter  8. 


2S8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

retically  unnecessary,  but  unsupported  by  facts,  and  we 
have  advocated  the  opinion  that  a  much  longer  period 
did  elapse  between  the  Flood  and  the  visit  of  Abraham 
to  Egypt  than  the  ordinary  systems  of  chronology  have 
allowed.  But  accepting  even  the  period  given  in  the 
Septuagint,  and  taking  into  account  the  rapid  changes 
which  are  produced  in  the  human  color  and  countenance 
in  such  a  climate  as  that  prevailing  in  parts  of  Africa, 
no  special  difficulties  exist  about  the  facts  represented 
on  the  olden  monuments.  Whatever  reluctance  may  be 
felt  in  accepting  the  changes  within  that  briefer  period, 
may  be  removed  by  the  probability  of  a  longer  time  hav- 
ing run  its  course  than  the  common  chronology  has 
allowed. 

It  is  obviously  a  flagrant  violation  of  those  principles 
which  regulate  the  advance  of  nations,  to  suppose  that 
six  or  seven  thousand  years  were  necessary  to  give  the 
degree  of  civilization  which  is  assumed  for  the  start  of 
the  first  dynasty  under  the  first  king  Menes.  We  do  not 
require  precision  or  definiteness  regarding  the  exact 
number  of  centuries  which  passed  between  the  Flood  and 
the  entrance  of  Abraham  into  Egypt ;  but  it  is  of  impor- 
tance to  ascertain  definitely  the  harmony  of  the  facts 
which  are  recorded  in  Scripture,  and  referred  to  in  other 
histories.  In  this  harmony  alone  consists  the  strength 
of  the  historical  argument. 

Christian  apologists  have  shown  unnecessary  anxiety 
as  to  exactness  in  dates.  The  admitted  elasticity  or  dif- 
ferences in  Bible  chronology,  should  make  us  willing  to 
grant  a  liberal  margin.     What  specially  concerns  us  is 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  289 

the  harmony  of  histories.  While  exact  dates  are  in  their 
own  place  most  valuable,  they  are  not  to  supersede  the 
cumulative  evidence  which  the  recognized  harmony  of 
profane  with  sacred  history  is  bringing-  to  the  side  of 
the  Christian  apologists.  No  one  can  recall  the  perpet- 
ually recurring  depreciation  of  the  Bible  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  last  half  century,  on  the  plea  that  its 
historical  statements  were  either  mythical,  or,  when  valid, 
had  been  written  out  after  other  histories  had  been  pub- 
lished, without  deep  thankfulness  for  the  striking  vindi- 
cation of  all  its  statements  which  contemporary  histories 
have  of  late  been  giving. 

To  the  positive  evidence  for  the  truth  of  Scripture, 
which  has  been  in  many  instances  unexpectedly  adduced 
through  historical  and  philological  investigations,  we 
shall  next  direct  attention  as  fully  as  is  consistent  with 
our  present  aim. 


25 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  BIBLE  A  LIGHT  AMONG  ANCIENT  RECORDS — EGYP 
TIAN,  CHALDEAN,  AND  ASSYRIAN  TESTIMONIES  TO  THI 
TRUTH  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

The  oldest  and  most  authentic  record  of  the  primeval  state  of  the 
world  is  unquestionably  the  Scripture  history ;  and  though  the  origin  of 
its  early  inhabitants  is  only  traced  in  a  general  and  comprehensive  man- 
ner, we  have  sufficient  data  for  conjecture  on  some  interesting  points. — 

SIR  J.  G.  WILKINSON. 

The  Bible  unfolds  the  oldest  history  in  the  world. 
No  other  comes  within  sight  of  its  earliest  records.  The 
Pentateuch  was  written  by  Moses  a  thousand  years  be- 
fore Herodotus  recited  his  history  at  the  public  games 
of  Greece  and  the  boy  Thucydides  wept  lest  he  might 
fail  in  future  rivalry,  and  more  than  twelve  hundred  years 
before  the  two  Egyptian  writers,  Manetho  and  Eratos- 
thenes, endeavored  to  explain  the  revolutions  of  their 
country.  Ctesias  and  Berosus,  the  one  thirty  and  the 
other  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  than  Herodotus, 
followed  him  with  their  somewhat  conflicting  accounts 
of  Chaldaean  and  Assyrian  struggles  and  triumphs.  The 
earliest  Greek  historian  was  thus  the  contemporary  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  ;  and,  long  before  Manetho  had  ar- 
ranged the  details  of  Egyptian  dynasties,  the  prophet 
Malachi  had  closed  the  Old  Testament  record.  The  his- 
torical distance  between  Moses  and  the  earliest  profane 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  291 

writers  is  so  great  as  to  be  distinctly  visible,  and  there- 
fore indisputable. 

The  references  in  the  Bible  to  Egypt  and  other  an- 
cient monarchies,  although  often  merely  incidental,  are 
yet  so  minute,  and  at  times  so  comprehensive,  that,  if 
erroneous,  nothing  should  be  easier  than  to  expose  their 
inaccuracy ;  and  there  can  be,  perhaps,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  more  convincing  argument  for  the  historical 
reliableness  of  the  Bible  than  that  which  is  dependent 
on  the  ascertained  correctness  of  its  allusions  to  those 
other  nations  with  which  the  Israelites  were,  in  the  earli- 
est ages,  more  or  less  closely  associated. 

The  ancient  testimonies  which  monuments  and  writ- 
ten documents  have  most  opportunely  supplied  within 
the  present  century,  indeed,  in  a  large  measure,  within 
the  present  generation,  have  not  only  demolished  all  the 
old  reasoning  against  the  Bible,  but  have  so  vindicated 
its  historical  trustworthiness,  that  "  Moses  and  the  Proph- 
ets "  are  now  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  watch- 
towers  from  which,  many  centuries  ago,  they  spoke  to 
the  Israelites,  and  through  them  to  the  whole  world. 
The  very  first  historical  sections  of  the  Bible,  so  long 
held  in  contempt,  have  of  late  not  only  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  greatest  scholars,  but  have  won  their  hom- 
age. No  unbiased  student  will  now  dare  to  scoff  at  the 
tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  pronounce  it  meaningless. 

Although  Max  Midler  has  claimed  for  the  Vedas  of 
India  a  like  antiquity  with  the  writings  of  Moses,  he  ad- 
mits that  they  are  not  history  ;*  and  neither  he,  with  all 
*  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  vol.  1,  p.  5. 


292 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


his  enthusiasm  on  their  behalf,  nor  any  one  else,  will  now 
assign  to  them  an  ethnological  value  at  all  comparable 
with  that  of  the  Pentateuch.  In  the  oldest  histories  there 
is  nothing  that  approaches  in  universality  and  explicit- 
ness  the  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  of  Genesis.  To  the 
tenth  chapter,  as  an  ethnological  table,  scholars  of  oppo- 
site religious  tendencies  have  united  in  paying  homage. 
"  It  is  as  essential  to  an  understanding  of  the  Bible," 
says  Professor  T.  Lewis,  "  and  of  history  in  general,  as  is 
Homer's  Catalogue  in  the  Second  Book  of  the  '  Iliad '  to 
a  true  knowledge  of  the  Homeric  poems  and  the  Homeric 
times."*  The  light  which  it  sheds  on  the  origin  and 
subsequent  relations  of  tribes  and  nations,  has  not  only 
continued  undimmed  by  distance,  but  is  becoming 
brighter  as  accurate  investigation  is  gradually  removing 
the  haze  of  prejudice  or  apathy  by  which  it  has  been 
long  encircled. 

In  the  genealogy  which  it  outlines  there  is  nothing 
mythical,  nor  is  there  anything  which  is  specially  flatter- 
ing to  the  Israelites.  There  is  no  national  vanity  dis- 
played, nor  is  there  the  least  indication  of  what  might 
have  been  in  part  expected,  a  decided  preference  for  the 
Shemitic  race.  No  special  preeminence  is  assigned  them 
in  a  history  which  is  remarkable  for  its  mingling  of  mi- 
nute references  with  comprehensive  outlines.  In  closely 
examining  the  tenth  chapter,  we  find  such  diversity  of 
history  as  precludes  exact  classification,  but  its  general 
statements  are  beginning  to  admit  of  comparatively  easy 
historical  exposition.     While,  for  example,  in  some  of  the 

*  "Lange's  Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  352. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  293 

lists  of  the  descendants  of  Noah,  the  record  ends  with 
the  second  generation,  in  others  it  extends  to  the  third 
or  fourth  generation ;  and  while  in  some  instances  the 
founder  only  without  the  tribe  is  named,  in  others  the 
tribe  without  the  founder  is  given,  and  in  others  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  the  founder  or  the  tribe  is 
meant  ;  but  through  all  that  is  yet  inexplicable,  there  are 
minute  historical  references  of  so  much  importance  as  to 
command  the  attention  of  ethnologists.  In  the  study  of 
the  earliest  monarchies — the  Egyptian,  the  Chaldaean, 
and  the  Assyrian — historians  thankfully  turn  to  the  Book 
which  was  long  scoffed  at  by  those  who  plumed  them- 
selves on  their  varied  scholarship.  It  sheds  so  much 
light  on  the  first  movements  of  different  peoples,  and  on 
the  foundation  of  empires,  that  it  cannot  be  repudiated 
without  injury  to  historical  science. 

In  immediate  connection  with  the  origin  of  nations, 
the  sacred  historian  has  placed  the  confusion  of  tongues 
at  the  building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel ;  and  in  thus  ac- 
counting for  the  diversity  of  languages,  the  Bible  deals 
at  the  very  outset  with  a  remarkable  subject  which  does 
not  seem,  for  many  ages,  to  have  awakened,  in  Greece  or 
elsewhere,  the  least  interest  or  attention.  In  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Bible  narrative  is  its  strength.  There  is 
no  date  for  the  building  of  the  tower.  Generally  viewed, 
it  stands  as  the  boundary  between  the  unity  of  the  prim- 
itive world  and  the  conflicting  movements  of  diverse 
tribes  in  subsequent  ages.  It  explains  what  otherwise 
would  have  remained  inexplicable — a  manifold  diversity 
of  language,  with  a  singular  unity  of  apparently  original 

*5* 


294  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

structure.  The  moral  cause  of  the  dispersion  has  been 
thus  stated:  "The  unity  which  had  hitherto  bound  to- 
gether the  human  family  was  the  community  of  one  God, 
and  of  one  divine  worship.  This  unity  did  not  satisfy 
them ;  inwardly  they  had  already  lost  it ;  and  therefore 
it  was  that  they  strove  for  another.  There  is  therefore 
an  ungodly  unity  which  they  sought  to  reach  through 
such  self-invented,  sensual,  outward  means ;  while  the 
very  thing  they  feared,  they  predicted  as  their  punish- 
ment."* Their  purpose  was  defeated  by  the  confusion 
of  their  tongues,  or  rather  by  the  sudden  use  of  three 
languages  instead  of  one.  The  introduction  of  three 
tongues  or  languages  would  cause  such  confusion  as 
would  put  an  end  to  the  undertaking.  It  would  have 
been  inconsistent  with  the  method  of  the  Divine  govern- 
ment, so  far  as  we  can  judge,  to  introduce  a  multitude  of 
dialects,  and  make  each  man  unintelligible  to  his  com- 
panion ;  and  it  appears  from  the  record  itself  that  the 
confusion  was  orderly  or  regulated,  for  we  are  told  antici- 
patively  in  the  tenth  chapter,  that  the  descendants  of 
Japheth,  of  Ham,  and  of  Shem,  were  divided  "  after  their 
families,  after  their  tongues,  in  their  lands,  after  their 
nations."  Of  each  of  the  three,  successively,  is  the 
same  account  given.  Gen.  10:5,  20,  31,  32.  Is  it  not 
very  significant  to  find  the  descendants  of  Japheth,  Ham, 
and  Shem,  separately  described  as  peopling  the  earth 
"after  their  families  and  after  their  tongues" '?  From 
these  families,  it  would  seem,  have  all  the  languages  in 
the  world  been  gradually  evolved ;  and  is  it  not  perfectly 
*  "Delitzsch,"  p.  310.        "Lange's  Commentary,"  p.  353. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


295 


consistent  with  this  Bible  statement  to  find  eminent 
philologists  of  all  ranks  concurring'  in  the  conclusion, 
that  the  languages  and  dialects  of  the  world  are  reduci- 
ble to  three  distinct  families  or  groups — the  Aryan,  the 
Semitic,  and  Turanian  ?  "  Comparative  Philology,"  says 
Bunsen,  "would  have  been  compelled  to  set  forth  as  a 
postulate  the  supposition  of  some  such  division  of  lan- 
guages in  Asia,  especially  on  the  ground  of  the  relation 
of  the  Egyptian  language  to  the  Shemitic,  even  if  the 
Bible  had  not  assured  us  of  the  truth  of  this  great  his- 
torical event.  It  is  truly  wonderful — it  is  matter  of 
astonishment :  it  is  more  than  a  mere  astounding  fact, 
that  something  so  purely  historical,  and  yet  divinely 
fixed — something  so  conformable  to  reason,  and  yet  not 
to  be  conceived  of  as  a  mere  natural  development — is 
here  related  to  us  out  of  the  oldest  primeval  period ;  and 
which  now,  for  the  first  time,  through  the  new  science  of 
philology,  has  become  capable  of  being  historically  and 
philosophically  explained." 

The  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  cannot  be  separated 
without  lessening  their  light.  They  are  both  singular  in 
their  delineation  of  secrets,  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  for  ever  hidden — their  historical  statements,  though 
at  first  flowing  separately,  afterwards  so  far  merge  into 
each  other  as  to  become  mutually  illustrative. 

In  their  combination  they  shed  light,  for  example,  on 
those  statements  which  long  perplexed  Bible  students 
regarding  the  origin  of  the  Chaldaean  Empire,  and  they 
have  dispelled  a  delusion  which  scholars  persisted  in 
maintaining  against  the  direct  teaching  of  the  Bible.    In 


296  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

this  tenth  chapter — "the  most  authentic  record  that  we 
possess  for  the  affiliation  of  nations,"*  "  the  Book  of  the 
generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah" — it  is  said,  "The  sons 
of  Ham  were  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Phut,  and  Ca- 
naan. .  .  .  And  Cush  begat  Nimrod.  .  .  .  And  the  be- 
ginning of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and 
Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar."  What  is 
here  noteworthy  is,  that  while  Mizraim,  one  of  the  sons 
of  Ham,  went  to  Egypt  and  gave  to  the  country  its 
name,  and  Phut  inhabited  Central  Africa,  and  Canaan 
peopled  Palestine,  the  Babylonian  line  is  directly  con- 
nected with  them.  They  are  all  Cushite  by  blood.  "  It 
is,"  says  Professor  Rawlinson,  "  the  simplest  and  the  best 
interpretation  of  this  passage,  to  understand  it  as  assert- 
ing that  the  four  races — the  Egyptians,  Ethiopians,  Liby- 
ans, and  Canaanites — were  ethnically  connected,  being 
all  descended  from  Ham  ;  and  further,  that  the  primitive 
people  of  Babylon  were  a  subdivision  of  one  of  these 
races — namely,  of  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopians,  connected 
in  some  degree  with  the  Canaanites,  Egyptians,  and 
Libyans,  but  still  more  closely  with  the  people  which 
dwelt  upon  the  Upper  Nile."f 

This  idea  of  an  Asiatic  Cush  or  Ethiopia,  was  scouted 
by  scholars  of  the  greatest  name,  as  created  by  the  imagi- 
nation of  interpreters,  and  as  "  the  child  of  their  de- 
spair."^:   They  limited  the  Biblical  Cush  to  Egypt  alone  ; 

*  "Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society,"  vol.  15,  p.  230. 
t  "The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World,"  b> 
George  Rawlinson,  M.  A.     Vol.  1,  p.  64. 

X  Bunsen's  "  Philosophy  of  Universal  History,"  vol  1,  p.  191. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  297 

but  this  was  done  at  the  expense  of  Bible  history ;  for 
nothing  can  be  more  direct  than  the  descent  from  Noah 
of  Ham,  Cush,  and  Nimrod ;  and  nothing  can  be  clearer 
than  the  declaration  that  Nimrod  "began  to  be  a  mighty 
one  in  the  earth  ....  and  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom 
was  Babel."  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  Chaldsean 
monarchy  ;  but  is  not  its  origin  Hamitic,  and  also  Egyp- 
tian— for  Ham  begat  Mizraim,  and  Mizraim  in  Egypt  be- 
gat Cush,  and  Cush  this  Nimrod,  who  must  have  moved 
eastward  to  found  an  Ethiopian  empire  in  Asia  ?  There 
can  be  no  escape  from  these  plain  historical  issues  repre- 
sented in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  question  is,  What  sup- 
port have  they,  if  any,  from  other  sources  ?  Until  very 
recently,  the  evidence  was  not  forthcoming,  and  Christian 
interpreters  were  satisfied  by  giving  Egypt  to  the  de- 
scendants of  Ham,  and  assigning  them  a  subordinate 
national  place  as  the  "  servant  of  servants."  By  an  easy 
or  superficial  reading  of  Scripture,  the  general  inference 
was  accepted  that  no  great  Asiatic  empire  could  possibly 
be  connected  with  the  descendants  of  Ham,  because  of 
the  supposed  extent  of  their  prophetic  doom  ;  but  the 
fact  that  such  an  empire  did  exist  has  been  established 
in  harmony  both  with  Bible  statements  and  the  princi- 
ples of  prophetic  interpretation,  by  a  series  of  very  strong, 
if  not,  indeed,  indisputable  proofs.  As  a  very  general 
outline  of  the  evidence  is  all  that  can  be  given  here,  we 
refer.for  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  subject  to  Professor 
Rawlinson's  invaluable  work,  "The  Five  Great  Monar- 
chies of  the  Ancient  Eastern  World."* 

*  Vol.  1,  chapter  3,  pp.  47-60. 


298  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

i.  By  classical  and  other  traditions,  Ethiopians  have 
been  described  as  dwelling  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  as 
being  associated,  at  the  same  time,  with  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Nile  Valley.*  Without  attaching  much  impor- 
tance to  Homer's  early  statement  by  itself,  regarding  the 
Ethiopians  as  "divided"  and  dwelling  "at  the  ends  of 
the  earth  towards  the  setting  and  the  rising  sun,"f  on 
account  of  the  conflicting  criticism  to  which  it  has  been 
subjected ;  it  must  be  conceded  that  it  has  much  weight 
when  connected  with  Strabo's  reference  to  the  Ethiopi- 
ans having  been  understood,  according  to  the  "  old  opin- 
ion" of  the  Greeks,  to  occupy  the  south  coast  of  both 
Asia  and  Africa,  and  to  be  divided  by  the  Persian  Gulf 
into  two  branches,  the  Asiatic  and  African.  This  refer- 
ence is  all  the  more  important,  because  taken  from  Eph- 
orus,  and  because  regarded  by  Strabo  himself  as  indica- 
tive only  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Greeks. 

Again,  tradition  connects  Memnon,  king  of  Ethiopia, 
on  the  one  hand,  with  the  founding  of  Susa  in  Asia,  and 
with  the  leadership  of  combined  Susianans  and  Ethio- 
pians for  the  assistance  of  Priam  in  Troy ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  the  Ethiopians  on  the  Nile,  under  the 
Egyptian  name  of  King  Amunoph  III.,  whose  statue  be- 
came known  as  "the  Vocal  Memnon."  There  were  pal- 
aces called  "Memnonia"  both  in  Egypt  and  Susa,  and 
the  supposition  that  Memnon  built  them  is  very  plausi- 
ble. As  Professor  Rawlinson  observes,  "  Memnon. thus 
unites  the  Eastern  and  Western  Ethiopians;  and  the 
less  we  regard  him  as  an  historical  personage,  the  more 
*  Homer's  "  Odyssey,"  x,  23,  24.  t  Ibid. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  299 

must  we  view  him  as  personifying  the  ethnic  identity  of 
the  two  races."* 

Other  traditions  show  that  the  Greeks  had,  at  one 
time,  an  unquestioning  belief  in  an  Asiatic  Ethiopia ;  and 
whatever  allusions  have  been  made  to  the  subject  by  the 
earliest  historians,  have  confirmed  that  belief.  Hesiocl, 
Herodotus,  and  Eusebius  have  been  cited  as  witnesses 
to  the  same  prevailing  ideas ;  but  there  were  others  be- 
sides the  Greeks — as,  for  instance,  the  Armenians — who 
cherished  similar  traditions;  and  although  these  wide- 
spread convictions  varied,  and,  considered  separately,  may 
seem  to  have  little  weight,  yet,  when  associated,  they 
constitute  valid  proof  that,  in  accordance  with  Scripture, 
the  Chaldaeans  were  originally  Hamites,  not  Shemites — 
Ethiopians,  not  Aramaeans. 

2.  As  the  evidence  from  tradition,  which  we  have 
placed  in  the  foreground,  was  long  almost  balanced  by 
conflicting  statements  from  other  sources,  scholars  were 
much  divided  in  opinion  ;  but  the  question  has  been  con- 
clusively settled  in  favor  of  the  Bible,  by  unexpected 
proofs  from  another  quarter.  By  the  results  of  research 
in  languages,  what  some  thought  was  only  apparently 
established  by  concurrent  traditions,  has  been  placed 
altogether  beyond  dispute.  After  the  explorations  in 
Assyrian  mounds  had  yielded  to  the  student  of  history 
many  precious  documents,  with  ample  evidence  of  a  later 
well-defined  Babylonian  language,  the  smaller  and  less 
attractive  mounds  of  "  Chaldsea  Proper"  were  carefully 
searched ;  and,  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of  every  phi- 

*  "  The  Five  Great  Monarchies  of  the  Ancient  World,"  vol.  I,  pp.  59,  60. 


3oo  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

lologist,  there  turned  up  the  remains  of  another  form  of 
language,  differing  from  that  which  the  Assyrian  mounds 
had  previously  revealed,  and  showing  closer  relations  to 
the  older  language  of  Susiana,  whose  early  inhabitants 
tradition  had  described  as  Hamitic.  Its  vocabulary, 
according  to  Sir  H.  Rawlinson,  "is  decidedly  Cushite  or 
Ethiopian,"  and  the  modern  languages  to  which  it  makes 
the  nearest  approaches  are  those  of  Southern  Arabia  and 
Abyssinia.  The  old  traditions  have  thus  been  confirmed 
by  comparative  philology,  and  both  are  side-lights  to 
Scripture."  A  Chaldaean  or  Babylonian  kingdom  existed 
long  before  another  empire  was  founded  by  the  descend- 
ants of  Shem,  and  thus  "  An  Eastern  Ethiopia,  instead  of 
being  the  invention  of  bewildered  ignorance,  is  proved  to 
be  a  reality,  which,  henceforth,  it  will  be  the  extreme  of 
skepticism  to  question;  and  the  primitive  race  which 
bore  sway  in  Chaldaea  proper  is  demonstrated  to  have 
belonged  to  this  ethnic  type."* 

The  very  earliest  historical  announcements  in  Scrip- 
ture, after  having  been  long  twisted  out  of  their  natural 
course  by  Christian  as  well  as  by  other  interpreters,  have 
at  last  not  only  been  freed  from  perversion,  but  have 
received  the  most  signal  acknowledgments  of  their  per- 
fect accuracy.  The  brief,  yet  definite,  Bible  intimations 
regarding  the  origin  and  the  relations  of  the  Egyptian, 
Chaldaean,  and  Assyrian  empires,  have  not  only  had  no 
parallel  in  any  other  history,  but  they  have  become  the 
key  to  open  what  would  otherwise  have  been  for  ever 
hidden  or  obscure. 

*  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  I,  p.  65. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  301 

In  passing  over  some  of  the  more  general  intimations 
in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis — as,  for  instance,  those 
referring  to  Shem,  Elam,  Eber,  and  Asshur — we  omit 
much  that  is  valuable  in  evidence,  that  we  may  have  the 
opportunity  of  more  fully  noticing  those  broader  state- 
ments on  which  comparatively  recent  discoveries  have 
shed  much  light. 

Our  first  view  of  Egypt  is  obtained  when  Abraham, 
who  had  been  living  a  patriarchal  chief  in  Palestine,  was 
constrained  by  famine  to  seek  support  in  Egypt  for  both 
himself  and  his  household.  And  we  find  that,  even  in 
that  early  age,  there  was  a  king  Pharaoh  ;  that  Egypt 
had  a  settled  government,  with  "princes"  who  acted  as 
the  king's  subordinates ;  and  that  the  country  was  rich 
enough  in  agricultural  resources  to  provide  assistance  to 
neighboring  tribes  in  the  time  of  famine.  That  these 
facts  are  in  harmony  with  profane  history  no  one  can 
doubt,  who  remembers  that,  even  then,  some  of  the  great 
Pyramids  were  in  existence  as  witnesses  indirectly  con- 
firming the  Bible  reference  to  a  comparatively  advanced 
civilization. 

A  remarkable  historical  sketch  of  the  capture  of  Lot, 
Abraham's  nephew,  and  of  his  rescue  from  the  hands  of 
Cherdorlaomer,  king  of  Elam,  although  assisted  by  his 
five  vassal  kings,  reveals  the  rise  of  a  new  or  Elamitic 
power,  which  was  displacing  the  old  Babylonian  or  Ham- 
itic  kingdom ;  and  of  the  overthrow  or  breaking  up  of 
this  early  kingdom,  decided  indications  have  been  given 
in  documents  recently  disinterred  from  the  mounds  of 
Mesopotamia,    In  them,  incursions  and  plunderings  have 


3o2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

been  recorded,  which  were  the  evident  forerunners  of 
greater  distresses  and  of  ultimate  ruin,  and  the  recovery 
of  tablets  is  expected,  which  will  determine  the  date  of 
Abraham's  contest  with  Chedorlaomer,  and,  consequent- 
ly, of  his  visit  to  Egypt ;  and  to  such  recovery  Bible  stu- 
dents look  not  with  anxiety,  bat  with  the  most  hopeful 
interest.  About  two  hundred  years  after  the  time  of 
Abraham,  the  history  of  Joseph  brings  Egypt  under 
review,  with  a  pictorial  vividness-  which  has  its  parallel 
in  no  other  record  for  at  least  more  than  a  thousand 
years.  When  we  combine  the  scattered  references  in 
the  later  chapters  of  Genesis,  they  represent  a  remarka- 
bly compact  organization.  The  light  falls  on  no  strictly 
primitive  people,  nor  barbarous  customs,  but  on  a  very 
highly  civilized  community,  skilled  in  agriculture,  social 
in  habit,  and  accomplished  in  various  branches  of  art. 
The  monarchy  which  we  noted  in  Abraham's  time  con- 
tinues, and  the  king  still  bears  the  title  of  Pharaoh.  He 
is  absolute,  or  nearly  so,  committing  men  to  prison,  and 
releasing  them ;  or,  if  he  please,  ordering  their  execu- 
tions, appointing  officers  over  the  whole  land,  and  taxing 
it  apparently  at  his  pleasure ;  raising  a  foreigner  sudden- 
ly to  the  second  position  in  the  kingdom,  and  requiring 
all,  without  exception,  to  render  him  obedience.  "  At 
the  same  time,  the  king  has  counsellors,  or  ministers, 
elders  of  his  house,  and  others  whose  advice  he  asks, 
and  without  whose  sanction  he  does  not  seem  to  act  in 
important  matters."  He  had  a  body-guard  under  "a 
captain,"  a  "  chief  confectioner,"  a  "  chief  cup-bearer." 
He  rides  in  a  chariot,  and  all  pay  him  homage.     There 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  303 

are  distinct  classes  of  soldiers,  priests,  physicians,  sacred 
scribes,  magicians,  and  herdsmen.  As  betokening  the 
stage  of  civilization  which  had  been  reached,  there  is 
mention  made  of  fine  linen,  golden  chains,  silver  drink- 
ing-cups,  wagons,  chariots,  embalming,  and  coffins.  In 
addition  to  these  glimpses,  we  have  it  stated  that  they 
carried  burdens  on  the  head  ;  that  they  sat  at  meat,  and 
did  not  recline,  as  was  the  common  custom  in  the  East ; 
and  that  "  every  shepherd  was  an  abomination  unto  the 
Egyptians."  Gen.  chaps.  37-47.  All  these  peculiarities 
are  fully  represented  in  the  monuments,  but  especially  is 
the  last  made  prominent.  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson  tells  us 
that  the  artists  delighted  on  all  occasions  in  representing 
the  shepherds  as  "dirty  and  unshaven;"  and  that,  on  the 
tombs  near  the  Pyramids  of  Geezeh,  they  are  "  carica- 
tured as  a  deformed  and  unseemly  race."* 

A  fuller  and  minuter  series  of  facts  will  be  found  in 
a  most  instructive  little  volume  by  Professor  Rawlinson, 
who  adds  :  "  It  may  be  broadly  stated  that,  in  this  entire 
description,  there  is  not  a  single  fraction  which  is  not  in 
harmony  with  what  we  know  of  the  Egypt  of  this  remote 
period  from  other  sources.  Nay,  more,  almost  every 
point  in  it  is  confirmed,  either  by  the  classical  writers,  by 
the  monuments,  or  by  both."f 

In  the  Book  of  Exodus  there  is  a  very  remarkable 
history,  some  of  the  details  of  which  have  received  stri- 
king confirmation  in  monuments,  and  by  profane  writers. 
They  afford  unmistakable  indications  of  the  departure  of 

*  "Ancient  Egyptians,  vol  2,  p.  16. 

t  "  Historical  Illustrations  of  the  Old  Testament,"  pp.  41,  42. 


3o4  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

the  Israelites.  There  are  passages  in  the  writings  of 
Manetho  and  Chaeremon,  Egyptian  priests  of  high  schol- 
arship, which,  though  somewhat  confused  and  contradic- 
tory, are  yet  so  specific  as  to  the  names  of  Moses  and 
Joseph,  and,  in  some  instances,  so  minute  as  to  facts, 
that  the  following  conclusions  may  be  held  established : 
(i)  That  there  was  a  tradition  of  an  Exodus  from  Egypt 
of  persons  whom  they  regarded  as  unclean  ;  (2)  that  they 
connected  this  Exodus  with  the  names  of  Joseph  and 
Moses  ;  and  (3)  that  they  made  Canaan  their  country, 
and  placed  the  event  in  the  reign  of  Amenophis,  son  of 
Rameses,  about  the  year  b.  c.  1400.* 

The  indirect  testimonies  to  the  historical  truth  of 
Exodus  as  dependent  on  the  usages  of  Egypt,  are,  in  some 
respects,  more  valuable  than  the  more  positive  statements 
which  have  been  adduced.  Among  these,  there  is  men- 
tion made  of  brick-making  without  straw,  under  taskmas- 
ters, who  made  the  lives  of  the  Israelites  bitter  with  hard 
bondage  ;  of  the  use  of  papyrus  for  boats,  furnaces,  knead- 
ing-troughs,  hand-mills ;  of  the  use  of  chariots  in  war ; 
of  the  king  leading  his  horses  to  battle  ;  of  the  king  and 
his  princes  fighting  from  chariots  ;  of  the  king  hearing 
complaints  in  person  ;  in  short,  the  allusions  to  public, 
social,  and  domestic  modes  of  life  in  that  early  period  are 
so  numerous  in  Scripture,  and  have  been  found  to  be  so 
literally  exact,  that  the  reasoning  of  rationalists,  on  the 
plea  that  they  were  all  mythical,  has  been  generally  aban- 
doned ;  and  we  might  at  once  proceed  to  another  section 
in  this  field  of  inquiry,  were  it  not  that  it  may  be  of  ad- 

*  "  Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  59,  61. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  305 

vantage  to  some  Bible  students  to  notice  two  or  three  of 
the  more  prominent  facts  which  rise,  distinct  and  colum- 
nar, in  the  parallel  lines  of  sacred  and  secular  records. 

1.  From  three  to  four  hundred  years  after  the  Exo- 
dus, Egypt  in  the  West,  and  the  other  kingdoms  in  the 
East,  had  little  or  no  direct  intercourse  with  the  Israelites, 
who  were  under  the  necessity,  during  that  long  period, 
of  struggling  with  the  Ammonites,  Moabites,  Amorites, 
Canaanites,  and  Philistines,  races  whose  literature,  if 
they  had  any,  has  been  lost.  Egypt  and  Assyria,  during 
the  same  period,  had  great  military  resources  ;  but,  as  is 
evident  from  their  records,  they  had  undertaken  no  ex- 
peditions which  brought  them  into  contact  with  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Israelites.  They  therefore  say  nothing  re- 
garding them,  and  this  silence  is  in  accord  with  the 
absence,  in  the  Israelitish  history,  of  all  reference  to 
either  Egypt  or  Assyria.  This  is  itself  a  most  impor- 
tant incidental  proof  of  the  historical  reliableness  of 
Scripture. 

2.  After  the  Exodus,  the  first  and  most  outstanding 
fact  is  the  grandeur  of  Solomon's  reign,  and  the  extent 
of  his  dominion,  as  it  ranged  from  the  Mediterranean  sea 
to  the  Euphrates.  Under  David  the  kingdom  was  great- 
ly extended,  but  by  Solomon  it  was  consolidated  and 
adorned.  Between  two  hitherto  powerful  and  menacing 
monarchies,  the  Hebrew  kingdom  rose  rapidly  in  splen- 
dor, and  for  more  than  half  a  century  dazzled  them  both 
into  dimness.  To  those  accustomed  to  study  only  the 
slow  growth  of  Western   nations,  that  period  may  seem 

short  in  the  history  of  empires ;  but  in  the  East,  such  a 

26* 


306  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

sudden  outcome  of  imperial  power  and  splendor  was  not 
uncommon.  While  admitting  this,  it  seems  almost 
incredible  that  this  comparatively  weak  and  insignificant 
kingdom  should  have  attained  such  supremacy ;  and  it 
can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the 
two  great  monarchies  on  each  side  of  Solomon's  domin- 
ions had  been  weakened  by  internal  troubles  or  by  for- 
eign aggression,  or  had  sunk  into  that  national  effemi- 
nacy which  luxury  almost  invariably  creates.  Had  ei- 
ther Assyria  or  Egypt  been  as  powerful  as  formerly,  the 
Judaean  triumphs  in  David's  reign,  and  the  peaceful 
grandeur  of  Solomon's  sway  would  not  have  been  possi- 
ble. The  greatness  of  the  Hebrew  kingdom,  therefore, 
presupposes  corresponding  weakness  in  both  Egypt  and 
Assyria  ;  and  it  was  so.  Evidence  has  been  obtained 
from  the  monuments  of  both  countries,  which  clearly 
proves  that,  at  the  very  time  when  the  Israelitish  power 
was  in  the  ascendant,  they  were  both  under  a  cloud  and 
enfeebled.  For  nearly  two  centuries  their  historians  are 
silent,  and  the  very  names  of  their  monarchs  remain 
unknown.  Egypt  began  to  wane  about  1200  b.  c,  and 
Assyria  about  1100  b.  c.  ;  but  about  990  b.  c.  they  had 
largely  recovered  their  lost  position.  It  was  throughout 
this  period  the  triumphs  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy  were 
gradually  achieved  ;  they  fit  exactly  into  its  circumstan- 
ces ;  and  through  the  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  gloom 
which  hovered  on  both  sides  of  Palestine,  the  student  of 
history  can  easily  discern  the  splendor  of  Solomon's 
reign.  In  the  arts  and  architecture  of  that  Hebrew 
kingdom,  he  can  see  the  image,  or  rather  the  repetition, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  307 

of  all  that  was  best  in  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  models. 
The  ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Palestine  are  mutually  illus- 
trative, and  they  explain  the  magnificent  edifices  with 
which  Solomon  adorned  Jerusalem.  He  gathered_from 
the  East  and  the  West  all  that  was  imposing  in  outline,  as 
well  as  all  that  was  intricate  or  delicate  in  art ;  and  re- 
produced them  in  felicitous  combinations.  The  works 
in  which  he  excelled  could  only  have  been  accomplished 
in  times  of  peace,  and  when  access  was  easy  to  those 
great  buildings  which  were  hallowed  by  antiquity,  and 
enriched  by  all  that  was  attractive  to  what  at  that  peri- 
od was  "  Modern  taste."  The  feebleness  of  Assyria  and 
Egypt  accounts  for  their  comparative  obscurity,  and  not 
only  for  the  general  extension  of  the  Hebrew  dominions, 
but  for  the  possibility  of  his  carrying  on  and  comple- 
ting, in  presence  of  naturally  jealous  monarchs,  those 
great  works  which  are  thus  described  in  the  Bible :  "And 
it  came  to  pass,  at  the  end  of  twenty  years,  wherein  Sol- 
omon had  built  the  house  of  the  Lord  and  his  own 
house,  that  the  cities  which  Huram  had  restored  to  Sol- 
omon, Solomon  built  them,  and  caused  the  children  of 
Israel  to  dwell  there.  .  .  And  he  built  Tadmor  in  the 
wilderness,  and  all  the  store-cities  which  he  built  in 
Hamath.  Also,  he  built  Beth-horon  the  upper,  and  Beth- 
horon  the  nether,  fenced  cities  with  walls,  gates,  and 
bars  ;  and  Baalath,  and  all  the  store-cities  that  Solomon 
had,  and  all  the  chariot-cities,  and  the  cities  of  the  horse- 
men, and  all  that  Solomon  desired  to  build  in  Jerusalem, 
and  in  Lebanon,  and  throughout  all  the  land  of  his  do- 
minion."    2  Chron.  S  :  1-6. 


3o8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

The  ruins  of  Tadmor — or  Palmyra,  as  Alexander  the 
Great  named  it — are  to  this  day  "  the  wonder"  of  travel- 
lers in  the  East  ;  and  as  this  city  was  within  about  twen- 
ty miles  of  the  Euphrates,  it  is  evident  that  Assyria  had 
lost  its  jealousy  or  its  strength,  for  otherwise  Solomon 
could  not  have  found  there  opportunity  and  scope  for 
such  a  magnificent  architectural  enterprise.  Judging 
from  the  facts  recorded  in  the  Bible,  the  student  of  his- 
tory was  led  to  infer  that  both  Assyria  and  Egypt  were 
at  that  time  weak,  and  this  opinion  has  received  abun- 
dant confirmation  from  such  records  as  these  two  coun- 
tries have  of  late  supplied. 

3.  Towards  the  close  of  Solomon's  reign,  Egypt  be- 
gan to  revive  under  the  vigorous  administration  of  Shi- 
shak,  the  "  Sheshonk"  of  the  hieroglyphics  and  the 
Sesonchis  of  Manetho.  Jeroboam  having  fallen  under 
the  suspicion  and  displeasure  of  Solomon,  fled  to  him 
for  protection.  "  Solomon  sought,  therefore,  to  kill  Jer- 
oboam ;  and  Jeroboam  arose,  and  fled  into  Egypt,  unto 
Shishak  king  of  Egypt,  and  was  in  Egypt  until  the  death 
of  Solomon."  1  Kings  1 1 :4c  After  Solomon's  death,  when 
Rehoboam,  his  son,  was  running  his  career  of  despotism 
and  folly,  Shishak,  as  the  Bible  has  told  us,  "  came  up 
against  Jerusalem,  with  12,000  chariots,  60,000  horsemen, 
and  people  without  number."  The  date  is  very  distinct- 
ly given,  "And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  in  the  fifth  year 
of  king  Rehoboam,  Shishak  king  of  Egypt  came  up 
against  Jerusalem,  because  they  had  transgressed  against 
the  Lord.  .  .  .  And  he  took  the  fenced  cities  which 
pertained  to   Judah,  and  came   to  Jerusalem.  ...     So 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


3°9 


Shishak  king  of  Egypt  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  and 
took  away  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and 
the  treasures  of  the  king's  house  ;  he  took  all :  he  car- 
ried away  also  the  shields  of  gold  which  Solomon  had 
made."     2  Chronicles  12  : 2,  4,  9. 

Two  things  are  here  worthy  of  special  notice,  the 
first  is,  that  in  this  distinct  statement  as  to  time,  we  have 
the  first  fixed  point  which  historians  can  use  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  chronological  data  ;  and  the  second  is, 
that  this  portion  of  Bible  history  has  received  the  fullest 
confirmation,  by  its  narrative  having  been  reproduced, 
with  wonderful  exactness,  in  the  only  memorial  of  Shi- 
shak's  invasion  which  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  It  was 
found  in  one  of  the  courts  of  the  great  palace  of  Karnac 
at  Thebes.  In  the  inscription  there  is  a  hieroglyph, 
which  Champollion  has  thus  translated  :  "  Pharaoh,  gov- 
ernor of  Lower  Egypt,  approved  of  the  sun,  the  beloved 
of  Amoun — Sheshonk"  (Shishak). 

A  Jewish  figure  is  represented,  as  part  of  Shishak's 
triumphal  procession,  with  a  tablet  on  his  breast,  and  a 
hieroglyph  which  has  been  thus  rendered,  "  Iouclah  Ma- 
lek,"  i.  e.,  King  of  Judah.  That  itself  is  a  very  decided 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  Scripture  from  an  unexpected 
quarter,  and  it  is  still  further  borne  out  in  the  inscrip- 
tions connected  with  the  same  history,  in  which  there 
are  represented  the  chiefs  of  more  than  thirty  nations  ; 
and  the  names  in  the  list  of  the  "  fenced  cities"  taken  by 
Shishak  have  their  counterpart  in  a  number  of  the  cities 
of  Judah.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  list  of  Shishak's  cap- 
tive cities,  there  are  some  which  might  be  supposed  to 


3io  BLENDING  LIGHTS.      ' 

be  favorable  to  Jeroboam,  as  their  territory  is  that  of  the 
Ten  Tribes,  and  they  should  of  course,  have  had  Shi- 
shak's  protection  ;  but  the  fact  is  only  an  additional  proof 
of  Scripture  history,  for  in  the  territory  of  the  Ten 
Tribes  there  were  those,  chiefly  among  the  Levites,  who 
favored  Rehoboam,  and  resisted  Shishak's  protege,.  It  is 
evident  that  Shishak  had  passed  into  the  territory  of  the 
Ten  Tribes,  and  had  discriminatively  punished  those 
towns  and  "  suburbs"  of  which  the  Levites  might  be 
said  to  have  possession.  Their  preference  for  Rehoboam 
is  thus  noticed  in  2  Chronicles  11:13,  14:  "And  the 
priests  and  the  Levites  that  were  in  all  Israel  resorted 
to  him  [Rehoboam]  out  of  all  their  coasts  ;  for  the  Le- 
vites left  their  suburbs  and  their  possession,  and  came  to 
Judah  and  Jerusalem  ;  for  Jeroboam  and  his  sons  had 
cast  them  off  from  executing  the  priest's  office  unto  the 
Lord."  This  inscription,  which  has  at  last  yielded  up 
all  its  truth,  has,  by  its  minute  record  of  the  cities  taken, 
incidentally  confirmed  the  brief  history  of  Shishak's 
movements  as  it  has  been  given  in  the  Bible. 

Without  further  following  this  twofold  record  of  the 
Egyptian  connection  with  Palestine,  we  may  notice  the 
recent  very  singular  evidences  of  the  truth  of  Bible  his- 
tory which  have  attracted  the  attention  of  the  civilized 
world,  through  the  discovery  (1)  of  the  cities  of  Bashan 
and  (2)  of  the  Moabite  Stone. 

1.  Few  can  have  read  the  following  verses  in  Deuter- 
onomy without  wonder,  or  without  the  notion  that  a  mis- 
take had  occurred  in  transcribing  the  numbers  :  "  So 
the  Lord  our  God  delivered  into  our  hands  Og  also,  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  311 

king  of  Bashan,  and  all  his  people  ;  and  we  smote  him, 
until  none  was  left  to  him  remaining.  And  we  took  all 
his  cities  at  that  time  ;  there  was  not  a  city  which  we 
took  not  from  them,  threescore  cities,  all  the  region  of 
Argob,  the  kingdom  of  Og  in  Bashan.  All  these  cities 
were  fenced  with  high  walls,  gates,  and  bars  ;  beside  un- 
walled  towns  a  great  many."  Deut.  3:3-5.  "Sixty 
cities  !  !  "  "  Fenced,  and  with  high  walls  !"  "  Impossi- 
ble, it  surely  means  six,  or  at  most  sixteen.  It  is  almost 
inconceivable  to  have  sixty  cities  within  the  bounds  of 
so  small  a  territory !"  Such,  doubtless,  have  been  the 
thoughts,  if  not  the  expressions,  of  many  humble  yet 
earnest  readers  of  the  Bible.  "  Often,  when  reading  the 
passage,"  says  Dr  Porter,  in  his  fascinating  work,  "  I 
used  to  think  that  some  strange  statistical  mystery  hung 
over  it,  for  how  could  a  province  measuring  not  more 
than  thirty  miles  by  twenty,  support  such  a  number  of 
fortified  cities,  especially  when  the  greater  part  of  it  was 
a  wilderness  of  rocks  ?  But  mysterious,  incredible  as 
this  seemed,  on  the  spot,  with  my  own  eyes,  /  have  seen 
that  it  is  literally  true.  The  cities  are  there  to  this  day. 
Some  of  them  retain  the  ancient  names  recorded  in  the 
Bible.  The  bbundaries  of  Argob  are  as  clearly  defined  by 
the  hand  of  nature  as  those  of  our  own  island  home.  These 
ancient  cities  of  Bashan  contain,  probably,  the  very  old- 
est specimens  of  architecture  now  existing  in  the  world."* 
Although  some  have  doubted  the  antiquity  of  these 
buildings,"  the  evidence  is  in  favor  of  Dr.  Porter's  con- 

*  "The  Giant  Cities  of  Bashan  and  Syria's  Holy  Places,"  by  the  Rev. 
J.  M.  Porter,  M.  A.     1S69.     pp.  13,  14. 


3i2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

elusions  ;  but  apart  from  the  question  of  age,  the  crowd- 
ing together  of  so  many  cities,  which  seemed  impossible, 
has  been  established  as  a  fact,  and  it  therefore  nullifies 
the  reasoning  of  the  skeptic. 

Although  within  comparatively  easy  reach  of  Euro- 
pean travellers,  Bashan  was  till  lately  comparatively  un- 
known, and  Christians  read  of  it  in  the  Bible  with  half 
listless  wonder.  Although  not  named  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, its  scenes  are  inwrought  with  its  history.  "  It  was 
down  the  western  slopes  of  Bashan's  high  table-land  that 
the  demons,  expelled  by  Jesus  from  the  poor  man,  chased 
the  herd  of  swine  into  the  sea  of  Galilee.  It  was  on 
the  grassy  slopes  of  Bashan's  hills  that  the  multitudes 
were  twice  miraculously  fed  by  the  merciful  Saviour. 
And  that  'high  mountain'  to  which  he  led  Peter,  and 
James,  and  John,  and  on  whose  summit  they  beheld 
the  glories  of  the  transfiguration,  was  that  very  Hermon 
which  forms  the  boundary  of  Bashan."*  It  is  strange 
that  desolation  so  complete  as  that  by  which  the  cities  of 
Bashan  have  been  overwhelmed,  should  have  been  so 
long  concealed.  The  "poet  prophets"  of  Israel  have 
described  the  stateliness  of  its  oaks,  the  magnificence  of 
its  scenery,  the  luxuriance  of  its  pastures,  the  fertility  of 
its  plains,  and  the  qualities  of  its  flocks  and  herds ;  and 
modern  travellers  have  confirmed  to  the  letter  the  accu- 
racy of  their  glowing  delineations. 

While  the  varied  aspects  of  Bashan's  landscapes  con- 
tinue in  the  main  unchanged,  its  cities  are  deserted,  and 

*  "  The  Giant  Cities  of  Bashan  and  Syria's  Holy  Places,"  by  the  Rev. 
J.  M.  Porter,  M.  A.     1S69.     p.  16. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  313 

the  stillness  of  death  pervades  them.  While  the  ancient 
cities  and  villages  of  western  Palestine,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, have  been  so  destroyed,  that  not  one  stone  remains 
above  another,  and  in  some  instances  their  very  site  is 
unknown,  and  while  Jerusalem  itself  has  lost  its  ancient 
architectural  grandeur,  "  the  state  of  Bashan  is  totally 
different ;  it  is  literally  crowded  with  towns  and  large 
villages;  and  though  the  vast  majority  of  them  are  de- 
serted, they  are  not  ruined.  .  .  .  Many  of  the  houses  in 
the  ancient  cities  of  Bashan  are  perfect,  as  if  only  fin- 
ished yesterday.  The  walls  are  sound,  the  roofs  unbro- 
ken, the  doors  and  even  the  window-shutters  in  their 
places."  It  is  astonishing  to  learn  that,  in  some  of  these 
ancient  cities,  from  two  to  five  hundred  houses  have  been 
found  perfect,  but  without  a  solitary  inhabitant.  From 
the  battlements  of  the  Castle  of  Salcah,  Dr.  Porter  count- 
ed no  fewer  than  thirty  towns  and  villages  dotting  the 
vast  plain,  many  of  them  perfect  as  when  first  built,  and 
"  yet,  for  more  than  five  centuries,  there  has  not  been  an 
inhabitant  in  one  of  them." 

All  that  has  been  recently  discovered  has  completely 
established  the  descriptions  in  the  writings  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets.  To  the  very  letter  their  statements  have 
been  vindicated  by  architectural  remains,  which  are  with- 
out a  parallel.  In  how  many  instances,  in  all  parts  of 
the  world,  have  cities  been  founded,  have  flourished,  been 
demolished,  rebuilt,  and  a  second  time  swept  off,  so  that 
their  very  site  is  forgotten  and  lost  ?  And  how  has 
Bashan  escaped  ?  Why  are  the  cities,  their  walls,  and 
their  houses  still  perfect,  their  stone  roofs  unmoved,  and 

27 


3i4  BLENDING  LI  GUI'S. 

their  stone  doors  hanging  on  their  hinges  ?  Why  are  the 
streets  tenantless  and  silent  as  a  city  of  the  dead  ?  The 
purposes  of  God  in  all  this  we  cannot  know ;  but  may  we 
not  believe  it  to  be  at  least  probable  that,  in  his  provi- 
dence, they  have  been  preserved  as  witnesses  to  the  truth 
of  this  portion  of  his  blessed  Word,  when  skepticism  and 
infidelity  are  casting  discredit  on  its  statements  regarding 
this  strange  giant  people  and  their  crowding  cities  ? 

2.  After  the  kingdom  of  Israel  had  been  convulsed 
by  successive  revolutions,  and  disgraced  by  the  assassi- 
nation of  two  of  its  kings,  "All  Israel  made  Omri,  the 
captain  of  the  host,  king  over  Israel."  I  Kings  16:16. 
No  sooner  did  he  gain  the  throne  than  he  began  to  rule 
with  an  unrelenting  hand,  until  he  at  last  succeeded  in 
so  consolidating  his  kingdom,  with  Samaria  as  its  capital, 
that  he  won  the  respect  of  neighboring  monarchs,  and 
Assyrian  records  bear  testimony  to  the  homage  paid  him. 
To  these  records  we  can  only  allude,  as  our  object  is,  in 
the  meantime,  to  fix  attention  on  that  strange  witness  to 
the  truth  of  Scripture,  whose  voice  in  the  solitudes  of 
Moab  unexpectedly  aroused  the  scholarship,  the  skepti- 
cism, and  the  Christianity  of  the  world.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  the  discovery  of  the  "  Moabite  Stone," 
on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Dibon,  was  first  made,  are  too 
generally  known  to  require  here  a  detailed  account.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Klein,  a  Prussian,  employed  by  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  first  saw  it,  when  it  was  unbroken  ; 
but  no  sooner  did  the  Arabs  observe  the  peculiar  interest 
which  was  taken  in  it,  than,  jealous  of  the  interference  of 
the  Franks  and  Turks,  they  broke  it,  and  concealed  its 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  315 

fragments.  By  the  judicious  and  persevering  efforts  of 
Captain  Warren,  R.  E.,  the  agent  of  the  Palestine  Explo- 
ration Fund,  the  fragments  have  been  recovered.  The 
inscription  is  in  the  Phoenician  character,  and  the  lan- 
guage itself  is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  Hebrew. 
The  translation  which  has  been  published  represents  the 
contest  of  the  Moabites  with  Omri,  and  their  ultimate 
triumph.  Between  Israel  and  Moab,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  there  was  a  perpetual  struggle  during  the 
thirty-four  years'  successive  reigns  of  Omri  and  his  son 
Ahab  ;  and  to  this  the  inscription  very  clearly  refers. 
Moab  had  for  a  long  period  the  worst  of  it,  2  Kings 
3  :4-27,  and  2  Chron.  20,  and  paid  heavy  tribute  to  Omri 
and  Ahab  ;  but  Mesha  put  an  end  to  it.  The  Bible  thus 
speaks  of  the  oppressive  tax  paid :  "  And  Mesha  king  of 
Moab  was  a  sheep-master,  and  rendered  unto  the  king  of 
Israel  100,000  lambs  and  100,000  rams,  with  the  wool. 
But  it  came  to  pass,  when  Ahab  was  dead,  that  the  king 
of  Moab  rebelled  against  the  king  of  Israel."     2  Kings 

3:4,  5- 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  quote  more  than  the  fol- 
lowing sentences  in  the  inscription:  "I,  Mesha,  son  of 
Jabin,  king  of  Moab.  My  father  reigned  over  Moab 
thirty  years,  and  I  reigned  after  my  father.  I  erected 
this  altar  unto  Chemosh,  who  granted  me  victory  over 
my  enemies,  the  people  of  Omri,  king  of  Israel,  who,  to- 
gether with  his  son,  [Ahab~\  oppressed  Moab  a  long  pe- 
riod— even  forty  years.  For  though  Chemosh  was  angry 
against  the  land,  during  my  reign  he  was  favorable  to 
Moab,  as  well  as  to  the  Temple,  which  Israel  had  con- 


3i6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tinually  wasted.  The  men  of  Gad  dwelt  in  the  district 
of  Kiriathaim  from  olden  times,  and  there  the  king  of 
Israel  built  a  fortress  for  himself,  which  Chemosh  bade 
me  go  and  take  from  him.  Then  I  went  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  and  fought  against  Israel  from  break  of  day 
until  noon,  and  slew  all  the  people  in  the  town,  to  the 
delight  of  Chemosh,  the  god  of  Moab.  I  took  from  them 
all  the  sacred  vessels  of  Jehovah,  and  offered  them  to 
Chemosh,  my  god,  instead."* 

The  reference  to  Che7nosh,  the  national  deity  of  Moab, 
is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  Bible  allusion  to  Chemosh 
as  the  abomination  of  Moab,  i  Kings  1 1  :  J ;  and  the 
whole  inscription  betokens  the  long  subjection  of  Moab, 
and  the  final  triumph  of  the  Moabites.  For  sixty-five 
years,  there  is  in  the  Bible  no  further  notice  of  the  Moab- 
ites— not  until  after  Elisha's  death,  when,  as  we  are  told, 
"the  bands  of  the  Moabites  invaded  the  land  at  the 
coming  in  of  the  year."  2  Kings  13  :  20.  The  silence  of 
Scripture  on  this  subject  is  itself  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  Moabitish  success  and  independence.  The  inscrip- 
tion further  gives  an  account  of  Mesha's  triumph,  and  of 
his  reorganizing  and  strengthening  his  long-oppressed 
and  sorely-wasted  kingdom.  This  testimony  is  altogether 
singular,  and  cannot  be  set  aside  or  modified  by  any  pos- 
sible ingenuity  of  mere  criticism. 

After  this  period,  the  historical  illustrations  of  Scrip- 
ture are  so  numerous,  that  only  a  few  can  be  noticed  ; 
but  these,  taken  in  connection  with  the  evidence  which 

*  See  "  Recovery  of  Jerusalem,"  p.  496 ;  and  Dr.  Ginsburg's  Essay  on 
"The  Moabite  Stone." 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  317 

has  been  already  adduced,  constitute  an  insuperable  bar- 
rier to  that  destructive  criticism  in  which  rationalists 
have  long  taken  great  delight. 

Without  dwelling  on  the  intermingling  evidence  from 
the  Bible  and  Assyrian  records  regarding  the  general 
condition  of  Syria,  and  the  leagues  of  contending  tribes, 
a  difficulty  may  be  noticed  which  has  been  created 
through  the  introduction  in  the  Bible  history  of  the 
name  of  the  Assyrian  monarch  "  Pul,"  who  is  not  ac- 
knowledged in  any  one  of  the  Assyrian  records  of  that 
period.  He  is  described  in  2  Kings  15  :  19,  and  1  Chron. 
5  :  26,  as  having  compelled  Menahem,  king  of  Israel,  to 
pay  him  a  thousand  talents,  being  the  condition  of  with- 
drawing his  troops  from  his  territory,  and  as  having  been 
historically  associated  with  "  Tiglath-pileser,"  in  carrying 
the  Jews  into  captivity,  "  even  the  Reubenites,  and  the 
Gadites,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh."  While  it  is 
interesting  to  observe  that  this  is  the  first  notice  of  As- 
syria in  the  Bible  since  the  time  of  Nimrod,  and  that  Pul 
is  the  first  Assyrian  invader  of  the  Jewish  territory,  it  is 
necessary  to  inquire  how  it  is  that,  while  Tiglath-pileser 
is  named  in  the  Assyrian  records,  Pul  is  not. 

Although  the  Assyrian  annals,  so  far  as  discovery  has 
yet  reached,  do  not  recognize  Pul  as  one  of  their  kings, 
he  is  distinctly  named  by  Berosus,  the  earliest  and  most 
reliable  historian  to  whom  appeal  can  be  made,  as  reign- 
ing at  this  time — not,  however,  as  an  "  Assyrian,"  but  as 
a  CJialdcean  monarch.*     As  he  reigned  at  Babylon,  and 

*  It  is  interesting  to  learn  that  despatches  have  been  found  which  were 
written  by  an  Assyrian  officer  who  bore  that  name,  and  that  one  of  his  let- 

27* 


3i8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

not  at  Nineveh,  he  is  not  acknowledged  to  be  an  Assyrian 
ruler.  But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  did  the  Bible  histori- 
ans not  correctly  designate  him  "King  of  Babylon"? 
Professor  Rawlinson  has  fully  considered  this  anomaly 
in  his  "  Ancient  Monarchies,"  and  has  more  briefly  sta- 
ted, in  his  recent  little  work,  "  Historical  Illustrations," 
what  appears  to  be  the  true  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
The  Jews,  after  the  rise  of  the  Assyrian  empire,  did  not 
minutely  discriminate  between  what  was  strictly  As- 
syrian and  what  was  the  older,  or  Chaldcsan  authority. 
Besides,  there  was  evidently  much  imperial  confusion  at 
this  time  ;  it  is  clearly  shown  by  the  annals  that  the  As- 
syrian empire  was  temporarily  disorganized  ;  some  of  the 
provinces  had  broken  off  from  the  royal  sway  in  Nine- 
veh ;  and  as  the  monarchs  there  may  have  held  the  reins 
of  government  with  a  slack  hand,  a  bold  and  ambitious 
Babylonian  prince,  like  Pul,  supported  by  some  of  the 
revolted  Assyrian  provinces,  and  ruling  over  that  part  of 
Assyria  which  was  nearest  to  them,  would  naturally 
enough  be  regarded  and  spoken  of  by  the  Jews  as  an 
Assyrian  king.  "  He  was  a  Chaldaean  who,  in  the  troub- 
lous times  that  fell  upon  Assyria  about  b.  c.  763-760, 
obtained  the  dominion  over  Western  Mesopotamia ;  and 
who,  invading  Syria  from  the  quarter  whence  the  Assyrian 
armies  were  wont  to  come,  and  being  at  the  head  of  As- 
syrian troops,  appeared  as  much  an  Assyrian  monarch  as 
the  princes  that  held  their  court  at  Nineveh."*     The 

ters  is  in  the  new  collection.  Probably  they  were  written  before  he  ascend- 
ed the  throne.  See  "Assyrian  Discoveries,"  by  George  Smith,  p.  448. 
Edition,  1875. 

*  "  Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  122,  124. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  319 

designation  of  Pul  as  king  of  Assyria,  although  he  may- 
have  been  only  a  pretender,  is  not  only  intelligible,  but, 
when  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  Pul,  accor- 
ding to  Berosus,  did  reign  as  king  of  Chaldasa  exactly  at 
this  time,  is  one  of  those  indirect  or  incidental  testi- 
monies to  the  truth  of  Scripture  which  every  one  ac- 
cepts. 

Tiglath-Pileser  is  closely  associated  with  Pul,  and 
the  records  of  his  life  interweave  with  those  of  the  Bible 
regarding  Azariah  and  Ahaz,  Menahem,  Pekah,  and  Ho- 
shea.  When  Azariah  was  king  of  Judah,  Pekah  was  king 
of  Israel ;  and  "  In  the  days  of  Pekah  king  of  Israel,  came 
Tiglath-pileser,  king  of  Assyria,  and  took  Ijon,  and  Abel- 
beth-maachah,  and  Janoah,  and  Kedesh,  and  Hazor,  and 
Gilead,  and  Galilee,  all  the  land  of  Naphtali,  and  carried 
than  captive  to  Assyria."     2  Kings  1 5  :  29. 

Soon  after  this  war,  another  followed  which  lasted  for 
several  years.  Damascus  and  Samaria,  with  their  kings 
Pekah  and  Rezin,  uniting,  declared  war  against  Ahaz, 
who  in  his  turn  applied  to  Tiglath-pileser,  and  pleaded 
for  help  against  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Israel.  "  And 
Ahaz  took  the  silver  and  gold  that  was  found  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's 
house,  and  sent  it  for  a  present  to  the  king  of  Assyria. 
And  the  king  of  Assyria  hearkened  unto  him  :  for  the 
king  of  Assyria  went  up  against  Damascus,  and  took  it, 
and  carried  the  people  of  it  captive  to  Kir,  and  slew 
Rezin."     2  Kings  16:7-9. 

This,  in  the  end,  proved  disastrous  policy  on  the  part 
of  Ahaz,  for  it  not  only  closed  the  history  of  Syria  as  a 


32o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

separate  kingdom  after  it  had  extended  through  ten  gen- 
erations, but  it  led  to  the  commencement  of  the  captivity, 
and  stimulated  the  desire  of  the  Assyrian  king  to  obtain 
more  of  that  gold  which  the  weakness  of  the  Jewish  mon- 
arch had  exposed  to  view.  Although  Ahaz  went  to 
Damascus  to  congratulate  Tiglath-pileser  on  his  success, 
and  adopted  the  plan  of  an  idolatrous  altar,  which  had 
pleased  him,  he  afterwards  had  the  mortification  of  find- 
ing himself  left  unaided  in  the  struggle  to  recover  the 
places  which  had  been  taken,  during  this  war,  by  the 
Philistines  and  the  Edomites.  "And  Tiglath-pileser 
king  of  Assyria  came  unto  him,  and  distressed  him,  but 
strengthened  him  not."  2  Chron.  28  :  20.  Ahaz  aban- 
doned principle,  and  was  enfeebled  by  policy ;  he  went 
from  one  depth  of  infamy  to  another  in  idolatrous  meth- 
ods, and  when  he  died  he  was  not  brought  "  into  the 
sepulchres  of  the  kings  of  Israel."  There  is  a  notice  of 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Rezin  in  one  of  the  inscriptions 
now  in  the  British  Museum,*  and  Tiglath-pileser  himself 
records  the  fact,  that  previously,  in  the  fifth  year  of  his 
reign,  he  had  defeated  a  great  army  under  Azariah,  king 
of  Judah.  There  are  references,  also,  in  recently  inter- 
preted tablets  to  the  siege  of  Damascus,  the  conquest 
of  the  Philistines,  the  death  of  Pekah,  and  the  accession 
of  Hoshea,  which  are  of  the  greatest  interest  as  confirm- 
ing the  very  details  of  Bible  history. 

To  the  Bible  alone  are  we  indebted  for  a  distinct  ac- 
count of  the  movements  of  Shalmaneser,!  as  successor 

*  "Ancient Monarchies,"  vol.  2,  p.  132;  second  edition. 

t  The  Shalmaneser  of  Scripture  is  Shalmaneser  II.  of  Assyrian  his- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  321 

of  Tiglath-pileser.  The  annals  of  his  kingdom  were  all 
destroyed  by  the  usurper  who  followed  him ;  but  satis- 
factory evidence  from  other  sources  has  been  forthcom- 
ing to  show  that  his  reign  fits  into  the  place  which  the 
Bible  assigns  him.  From  both  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Greeks,  we  learn  that  Shalmaneser  not  only  did  reign  in 
Assyria,  but  that  he  contended  with  the  Phoenicians  both 
by  land  and  sea ;  in  short,  that  he  overran  the  whole  of 
Phoenicia,  with  the  exception  of  Insular  Tyre,  which  he 
besieged  for  no  less  than  five  years.  For  this  informa- 
tion we  are  indebted  to  Menander  of  Ephesus  ;*  and  in 
the  minute  exactness  of  its  references  to  Shalmaneser  we 
have  a  fresh  proof  of  the  historical  value  of  the  Bible. 

The  blank  which  occurs  in  the  Assyrian  annals  has 
been  filled  up  by  such  direct  announcements  in  Scripture 
as  the  following:  "Against  him  [Hoshea]  came  up  Shal- 
maneser, king  of  Assyria ;  and  Hoshea  became  his  ser- 
vant, and  gave  him  presents.  And  the  king  of  Assyria 
found  conspiracy  in  Hoshea :  for  he  had  sent  messengers 
to  So,  king  of  Egypt,  and  brought  no  present  to  the  king 
of  Assyria,  as  lie  had  done  ytzx  by  year ;  therefore  the 
king  of  Assyria  shut  him  up,  and  bound  him  in  prison. 
Then  the  king  of  Assyria  came  up  throughout  all  the 
land,  and  went  up  to  Samaria,  and  besieged  it  three 
years.  In  the  ninth  year  of  Hoshea,  the  king  of  Assyria 
took  Samaria,  and  carried  Israel  away  into  Assyria,  and 

tory,  B.  c.  860.  Shalmaneser  I.,  king  of  Assyria,  B.  c.  1300,  built  a  palace 
in  Nineveh,  and  made  that  city  the  seat  of  government.  Smith's  "  Assyr- 
ian Discoveries,"  pp.  72,  91. 

*  Menand.,  Eph.  ap.  Joseph.     Ant.,  Ind.,  9,  14.      See  "Ancient  Mon« 
archies,"  vol.  2,  p.  405. 


322  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

placed  them  in  Halah,  and  in  Habor  by  the  river  of  Go- 
zan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes."     2  Kings  17:3-6. 

In  the  course  of  the  three  years'  siege,  there  were 
evidently  stirring  scenes  in  the  Assyrian  empire.  A 
new  power  was  at  work  behind  Shalmaneser's  besieging 
army,  and  in  some  way  it  became  connected  with  it  be- 
fore Samaria  ;  for  in  the  next  chapter,  at  the  ninth  verse, 
it  is  said,  "And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  fourth  year  of  king 
Hezekiah,  which  was  the  seventh  year  of  Hoshea,  son  of 
Elah,  king  of  Israel,  that  Shalmaneser,  king  of  Assyria, 
came  up  against  Samaria,  and  besieged  it.  And  at  the 
end  of  three  years  they  took  it."  .  .  .  Let  it  be  observed 
that  it  is  not  he  (Shalmaneser)  took  it ;  which  would 
have  been  the  most  natural  expression,  and  most  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  style  of  the  narrative.  It  is  also  wor- 
thy of  remark  that,  in  the  sixth  verse  of  the  preceding 
chapter,  when  Hoshea  is  named,  and  when  we  should 
have  expected  with  similar  directness  the  name  Shalma- 
neser, it  is  dropped,  and  "  The  king  of  Assyria  "  is  sub- 
stituted. It  is  clear  that  some  disturbing  force  had  come 
suddenly  into  the  midst  of  Shalmaneser's  movements  ; 
but  hozv  ?  or  whence  ?  none  could  answer.  It  does  not 
appear  from  the  historical  books  that  any  king  reigned 
between  Shalmaneser  and  Sennacherib.  In  the  twenti- 
eth chapter  of  Isaiah  there  is  a  formal  reference  to  Sar- 
gon,  as  having  spread  terror  and  desolation  far  and  wide 
in  Syria  and  in  Egypt ;  but  as  the  name  occurs  nowhere 
else  in  Scripture,  critics  were  divided  in  their  conclu- 
sions ;  while  some  held  Sargon  to  be  the  same  as  Shal- 
maneser, others  held  him  to  be  identical  with  Sennache- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  323 

rib,  and  others  with  Esar-haddon.  For  two  thousand  five 
hundred  years,  Isaiah's  mention  of  Sargon  remained  in- 
explicable ;  but  the  mystery  has  been  at  last  removed, 
and  the  historical  delineation  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  has 
been  proved  to  be  literally  accurate.  Sargon,  as  a  usurp- 
er, had  taken  advantage  of  Shalmaneser's  absence  at  the 
siege  of  Samaria,  and  having  gained  successes  with  his 
army,  he  came  up  to  Samaria,  and  the  result  was,  as 
stated  above,  "they  took  it;"  hence  the  next  announce- 
ment, that  the  king  of  Assyria,  implying  Sargon,  whose 
name  or  position  may  not  have  been  very  clearly  under- 
stood by  the  historian  at  the  time,  took  Samaria  ;  and 
having  carried  Israel  captive,  placed  the  prisoners  in 
Halah  and  Habor,  and  "in  the  cities  of  the  Medes." 

There  can  be  no  hesitation  now  in  admitting  both  the 
accuracy  of  Isaiah's  statements,  and  the  scrupulous  atten- 
tion to  facts  shown  by  the  historian  of  2  Kings,  for  the 
name  of  Sargon  is  found  on  the  Assyrian  monuments, 
and  the  fullest  accounts  of  his  reign  are  given.  As  he 
was  the  supplanter,  not  the  lawful  successor,  of  Shal- 
maneser,  he  naturally  attempted  to  blot  his  name  alto- 
gether out  of  the  Assyrian  annals,  and  he  so  far  accom- 
plished his  object  that  for  a  considerable  time  no  trace  of 
Shalmaneser's  reign  could  be  found.  But  recently  inter- 
preted sculpture  and  inscriptions  have  assigned  him  his 
rightful  place  in  Assyrian  records,  showing  his  relation 
to  Jehu  of  the  Bible,  and  fixing  the  very  year  when  he 
received  tribute  from  him,  and  they  also  refer  to  the 
additions  which  he  made  to  his  father's  works  at  the  pal- 
ace and  the  temple  of  Nineveh 


324  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Through  the  labors  of  M.  Botta,  it  has  been  placed 
beyond  dispute  that  Sargon  was  the  builder  of  the  palace 
of  Khorsabad,  and  in  its  ruins  full  details  of  his  reign  are 
given.  He  had  seized  and  annexed  to  Assyria  some  of 
the  towns  of  Media,  and  hence  the  minute  reference  in 
Scripture  to  what,  in  such  circumstances,  would  be  most 
natural — his  sending  Hebrew  captives  "  to  the  cities  of 
the  Medes."  Although  the  inscription  which  contained 
an  account  of  his  campaign  against  Samaria  has  been 
almost  completely  destroyed,  there  is  another  which  has 
been  well  preserved,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  he  carried 
27,280  Israelites  into  captivity  "from  Samaria  and  the 
several  districts  or  provincial  towns  dependent  on  that 
city,"*  and  there  is  some  evidence  of  his  having  com- 
pelled the  kings  of  Egypt  to  pay  him  tribute.f 

It  is  agreeably  surprising  to  find  a  minute  reference 
to  a  comparatively  insignificant  fact  in  a  great  campaign, 
like  that  made  by  Isaiah  to  the  taking  of  Ashdod  by 
Sargon,  fully  confirmed  by  the  Assyrian  records.  The 
description  by  Isaiah,  in  the  twentieth  chapter,  of  the 
approaching  humiliation  of  the  Egyptians  and  the  shame 
of  those  who  put  their  trust  in  "  their  glory,"  is  strikingly 
verified  by  Sargon's  account  of  his  campaign  against 
Ashdod.  In  his  annals,  Egypt  is  described  "as  a  weak 
power,  always  stirring  up  revolts  against  Assyria,"  yet 
unable  to  help  the  revolters  when  attacked.  Egypt  was 
then  truly  a  "broken  reed,"  and  "trust  in  the  shadow  of 
Egypt  was  confusion."!      There  can  be  little  doubt  that 

*  Layard's  "  Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  618.  t  Ibid.,  p.  620. 

J  See  "Assyrian  Discoveries — Inscriptions  of  Sargon,"  pp.  2S8-294. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  325 

the  description  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Isaiah  has  refer- 
ence to  Sargon  as  having  been  the  conqueror  of  Carche- 
mish  as  well  of  Samaria,  and  evidence  is  adduced  from 
an  inscription  found  at  Nineveh,  in  which,  among  other 
things,  it  is  said,  "The  mighty  king  Sargon  waged  war 
against  the  wicked,  and  having  overcome  Pisiri,  king  of 
Syria,  placed  a  governor  in  the  city  of  Carchemish." 

Sennacherib,  it  is  admitted,  was  Sargon's  successor, 
and  there  is  a  remarkable  correspondence  between  the 
account  in  the  Bible  and  the  recently  discovered  Assyrian 
annals.  Of  the  outset  of  his  movements,  it  is  said  in  the 
Bible :  "  Now,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  king  Hezekiah, 
did  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  come  up  against  all  the 
fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  took  them.  And  Hezekiah 
king  of  Judah  sent  to  the  king  of  Assyria  to  Lachish, 
saying,  I  have,  offended ;  return  from  me  :  that  which 
thou  puttest  on  me  will  I  bear.  And  the  king  of  Assy- 
ria appointed  unto  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  three  hun- 
dred talents  of  silver,  and  thirty  talents  of  gold.  And 
Hezekiah  gave  him  all  the  silver  that  was  found  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's 
house."  2  Kings  18:13-15.  In  the  inscriptions  which 
have  been  translated,  the  Bible  references  to  "all  the 
fenced  cities  of  y-itdah"  and  to  the  thirty  talents  of  gold, 
have  their  counterpart.  The  following  statement  by 
Sennacherib  thoroughly  coalesces  with  that  of  the  Bible  : 
"  Because  Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  would  not  submit  to 
my  yoke,  I  came  up  against  him,  and  by  force  of  arms, 
and  by  the  might  of  my  power,  I  took  forty-six  of  his 

strong  fenced  cities ;  and  of  the  smaller  towns  which  were 

28 


326  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

scattered  about,  I  took  and  plundered  a  countless  num- 
ber ;  and  from  their  places  I  captured  and  carried  off  as 
spoil  200,150  people,  old  and  young,  male  and  female, 
together  with  horses  and  mares,  asses  and  camels,  oxen 
and  sheep,  a  countless  multitude.  And  Hezekiah  him- 
self I  shut  up  in  Jerusalem,  like  a  bird  in  a  cage,  build- 
ing towers  round  the  city  to  hem  him  in,  and  raising 
banks  of  earth  against  the  gates  to  prevent  escape.  .  .  . 
Then,  upon  this  Hezekiah  there  fell  the  fear  of  the  power 
of  my  arms,  and  he  sent  out  to  me  the  chiefs  and  the  elders 
of  Jerusalem  with  thirty  talents  of  gold,  and  eight  hun- 
dred talents  of  silver,  and  divers  treasures — a  rich  and 
immense  booty.  .  .  .  All  these  things  were  brought  to 
me  at  Nineveh,  the  seat  of  my  government,  Hezekiah 
having  sent  them  by  way  of  tribute,  and  as  a  token  of 
submission  to  my  power."* 

The  eight  hundred  talents  as  against  the  three  hun- 
dred specified  in  the  Bible  include,  obviously,  all  the 
silver  which  was  obtained  at  first  from  every  source, 
while  the  three  hundred  constituted  the  annual  tribute. 
Is  not  the  coincidence  of  these  two  descriptions  very  re- 
markable ?  The  agreement  of  the  Bible  statement  with 
the  annals  is  still  more  striking  when  the  passages  in 
Isaiah  are  collated  with  those  of  the  historical  books. 
Of  the  above  passage  there  is  a  slightly  different  transla- 
tion by  Dr.  Hincks,  in  Layard's  "  Nineveh  and  Baby- 
lon," but  substantially  the  agreement  is  such  that  the 
two  may  be  held  as  one.f 

*  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  3,  pp.  161,  162. 
t  Layard's  "Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  pp.  143,  144. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  327 

Sennacherib  undertook  a  second  expedition  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  it  would  seem  that  in  both  he  occupied  La- 
chish,  2  Kings  23  :  14,  17  ;  19  :  3  ;  Isa.  29  :  1-8  ;  24,  and  in 
either  the  one  or  the  other  a  serious  resistance  to  his 
arms  was  made,  but  in  vain.  Sennacherib  triumphed, 
and  in  his  annals  there  is  an  inscription  confirmatory  of 
his  attack  on  Lachish,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  Bible  :  "Af- 
ter this  did  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  send  his  ser- 
vants to  Jerusalem,  (but  he  himself  laid  siege  against 
Lachish,  and  all  his  power  with  him,)  unto  Hezekiah 
king  of  Judah,  and  unto  all  Judah,  that  were  at  Jerusalem," 
&c*  2  Chron.  32  :g.  In  the  Assyrian  annals  it  is  said, 
"Sennacherib,  the  mighty  king,  king  of  the  country  of 
Assyria,  sitting  on  the  throne  of  judgment,  before  the 
city  Lachish,  (Lakkisha,)  I  gave  permission  for  its 
slaughter."* 

In  his  expedition  directed  chiefly  against  Egypt,  he 
was  disastrously  unsuccessful.  He  bent  his  arms  towards 
Jerusalem,  and  "  was  purposed  to  fight  against"  it,  but 
Hezekiah  made  most  vigorous  preparations  for  its  de- 
fence. In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  2  Kings,  there  is  an 
almost  matchless  description  of  the  arrogance,  the  pride, 
and  the  blasphemies  of  the  Assyrian  king  and  his  repre- 
sentatives, which  led  to  the  profound  heart-pleadings  of 
Hezekiah  with  the  God  of  Israel  ;  and  all  this  is  followed 
by  Isaiah's  defiant  scorn,  and  his  prohetic  denunciations 
of  the  Assyrian  king  and  his  hosts.  "  Therefore  thus 
saith  the  Lord  concerning  the  king  of  Assyria,  He  shall 
not  come  into  this  city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor 

*  Izard's  "Nineveh  and  Babylon,"  p.  152. 


328  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

come  before  it  with  shield,  nor  cast  a  bank  against  it.  By 
the  way  that  he  came,  by  the  same  shall  he  return,  and 
shall  not  come  into  this  city,  saith  the  Lord.  .  .  .  And 
it  came  to  pass  that  night,  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
went  out,  and  smote  in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  a 
hundred  fourscore  and  five  thousand :  and  when  they 
arose  early  in  the  morning,  behold,  they  were  all  dead 
corpses.  So  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  departed,  and 
went  and  returned,  and  dwelt  at  Nineveh.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  as  he  was  worshipping  in  the  house  of  Nisroch, 
his  god,  that  Adrammelecb  and  Sharezer,  his  sons,  smote 
him  with  the  sword,  .  .  .  and  Esar-haddon,  his  son,  reigned 
in  his  stead."  To  the  very  letter  in  every  particular  has 
this  striking  statement  been  confirmed. 

How  sudden  and  complete  this  overthrow  of  Sen- 
nacherib, when  success  seemed  certain  !  His  plans  were 
laid  with  skill,  and  prosecuted  with  energy.  As  Sethos, 
one  of  the  native  princes,  was  near  with  his  army,  Sen- 
nacherib had"  resolved  to  crush  him  before  the  great 
Ethiopian  monarch,  Tirhakah,  could  un;te  forces  with 
him.  Bui  this  terrible  disaster  overwhelmed  his  army 
and  humbled  his  pride.  The  Egyptians  ascribed  his 
overthrow  to  the  power  of  their  own  gods  and  added  to 
his  humiliation  by  harassing  his  straggling  forces  as  they 
fled. 

The  Assyrian  annals,  as  was  the  practice,  take  no 
notice  of  this  fearful  calamity  ;  but  the  Egyptian  his- 
torians record  the  disaster :  they  account  for  it  in  their 
own  way,  and  the  priests  informed  Herodotus  that  Sethos 
erected  a  monument  in  commemoration  of   the  event, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  329 

which  they  pointed  out  to  him.  It  was  the  statue  of  a 
man,  and  bore  the  inscription,  "  Look  on  me,  and  learn 
to  reverence  the  gods." 

The  Bible  historians,  of  course,  did  not  regard  it  as 
within  their  scope  to  record  the  subsequent  wars  and 
triumphs  of  Sennacherib.  From  other  sources  we  hear 
of  the  conquests  which  he  made  ;  and  it  is  interesting  to 
observe  that,  with  all  his  recruited  energies,  he  did  not 
renew  his  attack  on  Jerusalem  or  Egypt ;  he  accepted 
the  terrible  warning  which  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  had 
given  him,  and  turned  his  energies  to  other  achievements. 
The  Bible  relates,  however,  his  sad  and  inglorious  end 
by  the  hand  of  his  own  sons  ;  and,  in  so  far  as  historical 
evidence  goes,  this  account  of  his  death  has  been  con- 
firmed. 

Esar-haddon,  the  son  of  Sennacherib,  was  his  suc- 
cessor, 2  Kings  19:37,  and  carried  on  several  extensive 
campaigns  but  in  only  one  important  particular  does  his 
history  touch  the  Bible  record.  He  was  the  contempo- 
rary of  Manasseh,  king  of  Judah  ;  and  being  displeased 
with  his  disaffection  or  revolt,  he  sent  the  captains  of 
his  host,  who  took  Manasseh  "among  the  thorns,  and 
bound  him  with  fetters,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon." 
2  Chron.  33:11.  Treated  severely,  his  affliction  led  him 
to  penitence,  to  humbling  himself  before  God,  and  sub- 
sequently to  his  restoral  to  his  throne  by  Esar-haddon, 
on  condition  of  subjection. 

Esar-haddon,  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  was  the  first 

of  the  Assyrian  line  who  was  king  of  Babylon  as  well  as 

of  Assyria.     Sargon  took  the  title  of  both,  but  Esar- 

28* 


33©  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

hacldon  had  built  there  a  palace  for  himself,  in  which, 
no  doubt,  he  would  sometimes  reside.*  It  is  to  Babylon 
he  was  brought,  and  not  to  Nineveh,  as  was  the  custom. 
This  is  the  first  Assyrian  king  with  whom  such  a  desti- 
nation for  any  prisoner  was  possible.  Is  it  not  very  sin- 
gular to  find  that  Manasseh  is  said  to  have  been  brought 
to  Babylon,  and  can  any  degree  of  exactness  more  com- 
pletely testify  to  the  truth  of  the  Bible  ?  As  soon  as  the 
king  is  resident  in  Babylon,  the  Bible  tells  us  that  tJiith- 
er  the  captive  was  brought. 

That  Manasseh  was  made  his  prisoner  cannot  be 
doubted  ;  the  annals  of  Esar-haddon  attest  the  fact.  In 
the  inscription  bearing  on  the  capture  of  prisoners,  it  is 
said :  "  I  count  among  the  prisoners  of  my  reign  twelve 
kings  of  the  Hittites,  who  dwelt  beyond  the  mountains — 
Bahlon,  king  of  Tyre,  Manasseh,  king  of  jfndea,  together 
with  the  kings  of  the  Isles  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea."f 
A  more  explicit  statement  cannot  be  desired. 

In  some  of  the  new  texts  discovered  by  Mr.  Smith, 
there  are  references  to  Esar-haddon's  wars  with  Tirhakah, 
king  of  Ethiopia  and  Egypt,  and  with  the  Tyrians  who 
had  joined  him,  which  fit  in  with  Isaiah's  statement  re- 
garding Tirhakah.  Esar-haddon,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  of  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  prosecuted 
against  Ethiopia  and  Egypt  the  war  in  which  his  father 
had  been  engaged,  and  which  the  terrible  calamity  that 
befell  his  army  before  Jerusalem  compelled  him  to  aban- 

*  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  2,  p.  196;  Second  Edition, 
t  "  Revue  Archeologique,"  1S64.     Quoted  by  the  Rev.  B.  R.  Savile  in 
"  The  Truth  of  the  Bible,"  p.  289. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  331 

don.  These  new  inscriptions  shed  light  on  this  hitherto 
obscure  part  of  Bible  history. 

As  it  would  occupy  greatly  more  space  than  the  lim- 
its of  this  work  admit,  to  follow  closely  the  series  of  inci- 
dental testimonies  which  the  prophetic  writings  contain, 
a  few  brief  notices  may  suffice  to  complete  this  general 
argument. 

While  the  children  of  Israel  were  pining  in  captivity 
by  "  Babel's  streams,"  and  had  apparently  closed  their 
history,  they  are  not  only  preserved  by  God  as  a  separate 
people,  but  distinguished  by  the  steady  light  which  the 
character  of  Daniel  sheds  on  them.  Though  in  captivity, 
they  are  brought  to  the  foreground,  and  their  history 
rises  in  importance  above  that  even  of  their  conquerors. 
Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  is  made  all  the  more 
conspicuous  by  his  relations  to  the  prophet  Daniel  and 
to  this  people.  The  mutual  relations  of  Daniel  and 
Nebuchadnezzar  are  so  well  known,  that  it  is  needless  to 
refer  to  them  minutely ;  but  there  are  several  coinci- 
dences which  are  too  striking  to  be  omitted.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar contributed  so  much  to  the  extension  and  adorn- 
ment of  the  city,  that,  naturally,  as  recorded  in  Scripture, 
"  he  walked  in  the  palace  of  the  kingdom  of  Babylon," 
and  said,  "  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have  built 
for  the  house  of  the  kingdom  by  the  might  of  my  power, 
and  for  the  honor  of  my  majesty  ?"  In  the  clear  "  Stand- 
ard Inscription  of  Nebuchadnezzar,"  his  account  of  what 
he  did  is  in  every  sense  only  an  amplification  of  the 
above  brief  announcement:  "The  double  enclosure 
which  Nabopolassar,  my  father,  had  made,  but  not  com- 


332  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

pleted,  /  finished.  .  .  .  The  great  double  wall  of  Babylon 
/finished.  .  .  .  /strengthened  the  city.  .  .  .  Across  the 
river  to  the  west  /  built  the  wall  of  Babylon  with 
brick.  .  .  .  The  reservoir  of  Babylon,  by  the  grace  of 
Merodach,  /  filled  completely  full  of  water.  ...  /  made 
the  way  of  Nana,  the  protectress  of  her  votaries.  .  .  . 
These  gates  /  raised.  .  .  .  For  the  delight  of  mankind,  / 
filled  the  reservoir.  Behold  !  besides  the  Inerur-Bel,  the 
impregnable  fortification  of  Babylon,  /  constructed  in- 
side Babylon,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river,  a  fortifica- 
tion such  as  no  king  had  ever  made  before  me,  viz.,  a 
long  rampart,  4,000  ammas  square,  as  an  extra  defence. 
/  excavated  the  ditch  ;  with  brick  and  mortar  /  bound 
its  bed  ;  a  long  rampart  at  its  head  /  strongly  built.  / 
adorned  its  gates.  The  folding  doors  and  pillars  /  plated 
with  copper,"*  and  so  on.  Can  any  historical  light  more 
vividly  reveal  the  accuracy  of  the  photograph  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar as  it  is  set  in  the  Book  of  Daniel  ? 

Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  has  borne  important  testimony 
to  the  reality  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  influence  and  his  ex- 
tensive improvements,  when  he  said,  "  I  have  examined 
the  bricks  in  situ,  belonging,  perhaps,  to  a*  hundred  towns 
and  cities  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bagdad,  and  I  have 
never  yet  found  any  other  legend  than  that  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, son  of  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon." 

In  the  same  inscription  there  is  a  passage  in  which  it 

is  believed  there  is  an  allusion  to  the  calamity  which 

Daniel  has  described  as  befalling  Nebuchadnezzar,  when 

he. was  driven  from  the  haunts  of  men  until  "seven 

*  "Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  3,  p.  524;  second  edition. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  333 

times  "  should  pass  over  him,  and  he  should  acknowledge 
God  ;  but  as  difference  of  opinion  has,  of  late,  been 
shown  regarding  it,  we  shall  quote  the  passage  merely  as 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  rendered  it,  in  the  hope  that  his 
translation  may  yet  be  fully  verified,  and  that  the  remark 
of  Professor  Rawlinson  in  his  "  Bampton  Lectures"  may 
be  vindicated,  that  "  the  whole  range  of  cuneiform  litera- 
ture presents  no  similar  instance  of  a  king  putting  on 
record  his  own  inaction,"  notwithstanding  his  having 
withheld  this  conclusion  as  now  doubtful,  in  both  his 
"Ancient  Monarchies"  and  his  "Historical  Illustrations 
of  the  Old  Testament."  "  For  four  years  ....  the  seat 
of  my  kingdom  in  the  city,  which  ....  did  not  rejoice 
my  heart.  In  all  my  dominions  I  did  not  build  a  high 
place  of  power ;  the  precious  treasures  of  my  kingdom  I 
did  not  lay  up.  In  Babylon,  buildings  for  myself  and  for 
the  honor  of  my  kingdom  I  did  not  lay  out.  In  the  wor- 
ship of  Merodach,  my  lord,  the  joy  of  my  heart,  in  Baby- 
lon, the  city  of  his  sovereignty  and  the  seat  of  my  em- 
pire, I  did  not  sing  his  praises,  I  did  not  furnish  his 
altars  with  victims,  nor  did  I  clear  out  the  canals." 

The  blanks  at  the  beginning  represent  words  which 
have  baffled  the  deciphering  skill  of  Sir  Henry,  but  obvi- 
ously, if  its  meaning  has  been  rightly  apprehended,  the 
whole  passage  exhibits  a  complete  revolution  in  the  life 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
energetic  action  exhibited  in  the  first  part  of  the  inscrip- 
tion, which  we  quoted. 

The  "seven  times,"  mentioned  by  Daniel,  does  not 
necessarily  mean  seven  years,  and  accordingly  an  expla- 


334  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

nation  to  the  following  effect  has  been  offered.  It  was 
common  in  Persia  and  Chaldsea  to  divide  the  year  into 
two  seasons  only,  summer  and  winter,  and  thus  we  have 
three  and  a  half  solar  years,  which  would,  in  the  main, 
correspond  with  the  seven  times,  or  three  and  a  half 
years.  But  as  critical  difficulties,  in  the  meantime,  lie 
in  the  way  of  accepting  this  view  of  the  inscription,  we 
do  not  press  it,  because  it  is  most  undesirable  where  there 
is  so  much  that  is  thoroughly  definite,  to  weaken  our 
argument  by  introducing  what  is  doubtful.  We  give  the 
opponents  of  the  Bible  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  we 
merely  submit  the  probable  rendering  of  the  passage,  be- 
cause it  is  not  inappropriate  to  evidence  from  other 
sources  bearing  on  the  same  great  fact  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's temporary  seclusion.  The  reign  of  a  queen  is 
placed  in  this  period  by  some  historians,  and  it  is  not  in 
the  least  improbable  that  she  conducted  public  affairs 
while  Nebuchadnezzar  was  temporarily,  unfit  to  take  any 
interest  in  them.  It  is  also  distinctly  intimated  that  he 
"  fell  into  a  state  of  infirm  health  "  some  time  before  his 
decease  ;  and  Professor  Rawlinson  has  quoted  from  Aby- 
denus  a  remarkable  passage,*  containing  an  account  of 
the  last  words  and  the  death  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  which 
he  regards  as  of  importance  in  connecting  the  commence- 
ment of  Nebuchadnezzar's  malady,  not  only  with  the 
roof  of  the  palace,  as  it  is  implied  in  Daniel  4 :  29,  but 
with  his  disappearance  from  among  men,  and  with  such 
prophetic  power  as  was  mysteriously  imparted  to  him, 
according  to  the  account  by  Daniel. 

*  "Historical  Illustrations,"  pp.  i68,  169.  1 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  335 

In  the  Scripture  narrative  of  the  sudden  destruction 
of  the  Babylonian  kingdom,  there  were  two  minute  state- 
ments against  which  rationalistic  writers  long  urged 
strong  objections,  and  on  which  they  rested  demands  for 
the  rejection  of  the  book  of  Daniel  as  "full  of  historical 
errors ;"  and  the  result  reminds  us  of  what  has  often 
happened  in  supposed  contradictions  of  the  Bible  by 
perverted  facts  in  natural  science.  The  first  statement, 
which  was  sneered  at  as  erroneous,  is  that  which  de- 
scribes Belshazzar  as  king  of  Babylon  ;  and  the  second, 
is  that  which  intimates  that  Daniel  was  to  receive  the 
reward  of  being  made  third  instead  of  second  in  the 
kingdom,  in  accordance  with  custom. 

The  objections  pressed  against  Daniel's  statement 
that  Belshazzar  was  king,  had  apparently  such  weight, 
that  Bible  students  were  long  greatly  perplexed.  Some 
of  the  ancient  historians,  as  Herodotus  and  Berosus,  to 
whose  opinions  deserved  deference  has  always  been  paid, 
have  stated  that  not  Belshazzar,  but  Nabonnedus,*  (or 
Labynetus,)  was  king  of  Babylon  when  it  was  taken  by 
the  Medo-Persians — that  this  Nabonnedus  was  not  in 
the  city  of  Babylon  when  it  was  overthrown — that  he 
was  not  slain — that  he  was  taken  prisoner  in  a  contest 
outside  the  city,  and  was  generously  treated  by  Cyrus. 
To  meet  these  statements,  there  was  no  answer  beyond 
that  which  faith  in  the  accuracy  of  the  Bible  suggested. 
But  a  most  interesting  discovery  of  clay  cylinders  by  Mr. 
Taylor,  when  he  was  making  excavations  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  under  the  superintendence  of  Sir  H.  Rawlin- 

*  Or  Nabonidus,  or  Nabonadius. 


336  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

son,  has  put  an  end  to  the  cavils  of  the  skeptic  and  the 
difficulties  of  the  Christian.  The  cylinders  bear  inscrip- 
tions which  Sir  Henry,  to  his  delight,  has  found  to  con- 
tain an  account  of  the  reign  of  this  very  Nabonnedus,  a 
discovery  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  illustration  of 
Scripture.  "The  most  important  facts,  however,  which 
they  disclose,"  says  Sir  Henry,  in  a  most  instructive  let- 
ter in  the  "  Athenaeum,"  "  are  that  the  eldest  son  of  Na- 
bonnedus was  named  Bel-shar-ezar,  and  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted by  his  father  to  a  share  in  the  government.  This 
name  is  undoubtedly  the  Belshazzar  of  Daniel,  and  thus 
furnishes  a  key  to  the  explanation  of  that  great  historical 
problem  which  has  hitherto  defied  solution.  We  can 
now  understand  how  Belshazzar,  as  joint  king  with  his 
father,  may  have  been  governor  of  Babylon  when  the 
city  was  attacked  by  the  combined  forces  of  the  Medes 
and  Persians,  and  may  have  perished  in  the  assault  which 
followed  ;  while  Nabonnedus,  leading  a  force  to  the  relief 
of  the  place,  was  defeated  and  obliged  to  take  refuge  in 
the  neighboring  town  of  Borsippa,  (or  Birs-i-Nimrud,) 
capitulating  after  a  short  resistance,  and  being  subse- 
quently assigned,  according  to  Berosus,  an  honorable 
retirement  in  Carmania.  By  the  discovery,  indeed,  of 
the  name  Bel-shar-ezar,  as  appertaining  to  the  son  of 
Nabonnedus,  we  are  for  the  first  time  enabled  to  recon- 
cile authentic  history  (such  as  it  is  related  by  Herodotus 
and  Berosus,  and  not  as  we  find  it  in  the  romances  of 
Xenophon  or  the  fables  of  Ctesias)  with  the  inspired 
record  of  Daniel,  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  our  religion."* 

*  "Athenaeum,"  1854,  p.  341. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  337 

In  further  sketching  the  memorials  of  the  latter  kings, 
Sir  Henry  says  that  of  "  Nabonnedus  they  were  finding 
relics  in  all  quarters."  "The  walls  of  Babylon  on  the 
river  face,  erected  by  this  king,  were  completely  exposed 
during  a  late  fall  of  the  river,  and  the  bricks  of  which  the 
wall  was  composed  were  found  to  be  uniformly  stamped 
with  his  name  and  titles."  The  evidence  of  the  father's 
reign  and  influence  is  complete,  and  the  incidental  testi- 
mony to  Belshazzar  being  co-regent,  in  addition  to  the 
direct  statement  by  the  father  in  his  annals,  is  such  that 
it  cannot  be  set  aside.  A  co-regency  was  not  uncom- 
mon ;  Nabopolassar  shared  his  government  with  his  son 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Xerxes  with  his  son  Artaxerxes,  and 
Augustus  with  Tiberius. 

We  thus  find  that  there  were  two  kings,  father  and 
son,  associated  in  the  rule  of  the  kingdom  ;  that  Nabon- 
nedus was  not  in  the  city,  but  in  its  neighborhood  de- 
fending it,  while  Belshazzar  was  within  the  city,  as  Daniel 
has  written,  and  that  he  perished  in  its  ruins. 

This  record  has  not  only  removed  the  difficulty  as  to 
Nabonnedus  being  king  and  not  Belshazzar,  but  it  has 
disposed  of  the  objections  which  have  been  raised  in  ref- 
erence to  Daniel  having  been  assigned  the  third  place 
instead  of  the  second.  Belshazzar  offered  the  third  place 
to  any  interpreter  of  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  because 
he  could  not  offer  the  second,  for  the  very  reason  which 
has  at  last  been  ascertained  through  the  discovered  in- 
scription, that  he  was  himself  second,  his  father  Nabonne- 
dus being  first.  Is  not  this  another  striking  testimony 
to  the  exactness  of  the  sacred  record  ?     That  which  was 

29 


333  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

long  a  stumbling-block  to  ignorance,  has,  in  the  light  of 
recent  discoveries,  proved  a  source  of  strength  to  the 
Bible  student,  and  it  carries  with  it  an  emphatic  warning 
against  hasty  conclusions  unfavorable  to  the  Word  of 
God.  The  seeming  historical  inaccuracies  in  Daniel,  of 
which  some  German  critics  have  complained  so  loudly, 
have  been  turned  into  an  impregnable  defence  of  its 
claims  to  a  reliableness  which,  in  even  minute  details,  no 
other  ancient  history  can  profess  and  establish. 

When  we  move  along  the  line  of  Jewish  history  after 
the  time  of  Daniel,  we  have  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Esther, 
detailing  events  which  extend  over  rather  more  than  a 
hundred  years  beyond  the  return  from  the  Babylonish 
captivity.  A  new  empire  spreads  out  before  us.  Cyrus, 
Ahasuerus,  Artaxerxes,  Darius,  Artaxerxes,  pass  in  suc- 
cession through  changes  which  have  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  destiny  of  Jews.  Not  only  in  the  general  but 
in  the  minuter  statements  of  both  the  sacred  and  the  sec- 
ular historians  of  this  period,  are  there  very  striking  coin- 
cidences ;  and  those  illustrious  rulers  to  whom  we  have 
referred  have,  in  their  histories,  touched  Jewish  interests 
in  so  many  points,  that,  for  rationalists,  nothing  should 
be  easier  than  the  detection  and  exposure  of  errors,  if 
any  did  exist;  but  in  this  their  failure  has  been  complete, 
and  they  have  been  forced  to  accept,  in  many  instances, 
as  true  what  they  once  denounced  or  ridiculed  as  false. 

Some  difficulties  remain,  but  they  are  comparatively 
insignificant,  and  the  preponderance  of  exactly  corre- 
sponding records  is  such  as  to  render  the  historical 
argument  unanswerable.     Testimonies  have  been  unex- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  339 

pectedly  forthcoming  to  vindicate  the  Scriptures  along 
the  whole  line  of  their  history,  whenever  and  wherever 
serious  doubts  have  been  raised  and  assaults  made. 

From  the  earliest  announcements  regarding  the  Del- 
uge,* Noah  and  his  sons,  and  Abraham  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  or  in  Egypt,  down  through  every  vicissitude  to 
the  very  close  of  the  Old  Testament  history,  fuller  light 
is  being  shed  on  every  other  record  when  it  comes  into 
contact  with  the  Bible;  and  much  that  would  have  other- 
wise remained  obscure,  has  thus  been  made  definite  and 
intelligible.  To  the  general  historian,  the  Bible  is  prov- 
ing of  priceless  value ;  and  some  of  those  who  have 
most  indulged  in  sneers  at  seeming  inaccuracies,  have 
been  constrained  to  confess  their  error,  and  to  pay  to  its 
authority  a  not  ungenerous  homage. 

In  the  rapid  progress  of  archaeological  discoveries  in 
the  East,  there  is  everything  to  warrant  the  anticipation 
of  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  that  scholars  will  soon  be  able 
so  to  classify  both  the  Chaldaean  and  Assyrian  kings, 
and  so  to  spread  out  their  annals,  that  "they  shall  have 
an  historical  tableau  of  Western  Asia,  ascending  to  the 
twentieth  century  b.  c,  or  anterior  to  the  exodus  of 
Abraham  from  Chaldaea,  far  more  determinate  and  con- 
tinuous than  has  been  obtained  for  the  sister  kingdom,"! 

*  See  "Assyrian  Discoveries,"  chapter  10,  "  Flood  Series  of  Legends," 
pp.  165-222.  "It  appears,"  Mr.  Smith  says,  "that  at  that  remote  age  the 
Babylonians  had  a  tradition  of  a  flood  which  was  a  divine  punishment  for 
the  wickedness  of  the  world ;  and  of  a  holy  man  who  built  an  ark  and 
escaped  the  destruction  ;  who  was  afterwards  translated,  and  dwelt  with 
the  gods."  These  and  similar  coincidences  in  the  records  are  in  some 
respects  very  remarkable..  \  "Athenaeum,"  1S54,  p.  343. 


340  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Egypt.  The  recent  successful  labors  of  Mr.  G.  Smith 
add  interest  and  emphasis  to  this  expectation  ;  and  is  it 
not  marvellous  to  find  the  Bible,  in  its  earliest  and  in  its 
latest  historical  intimations,  shining  with  increasing  splen- 
dor as  archaeologists  and  historians  translate  conjecture 
into  fact,  and  displace  myths  by  universally  acknowledged 
realities  ? 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  341 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


BIBLE  HISTORY  IN  RELATION  TO  PROPHECY — THE  EVIDENCE 
OF  PROPHECY THE  IDEA  OF  THE  SUPERNATURAL  IN- 
SEPARABLE FROM  IT. 

History  is  the  occasion  of  prophecy,  but  not  its  measure  ;  for  prophecy 
rises  above  history,  borne  aloft  by  its  wings,  which  carry  it  far  beyond  the 
present,  and  which  it  derives,  not  from  the  past  occurrences  of  which  his- 
tory takes  cognizance,  but  from  Him  to  whom  the  future  and  the  past  are 
alike  known.  It  is  the  communication  of  so  much  of  His  own  supernat- 
ural light,  as  he  sees  fit  to  let  down  upon  the  dark  movements  of  history, 
to  show  whither  they  are  going. — principal  fairbairn. 

Although  we  have  hitherto  examined  the  Bible  and 
other  ancient  histories  in  precisely  the  same  way,  we 
cannot  leave  them  as  if  no  marked  differences  appeared. 
Our  work  is  but  half  finished.  No  one  can  carefully 
study  the  Bible  for  its  historical  information  alone,  with- 
out discovering  that  its  History  has  at  times  assumed  an 
entirely  distinctive  character.  It  anticipates  the  future. 
Prophecy  becomes  history,  as  the  mystery  of  prediction 
passes  into  the  light  of  fulfilment.  History  records 
prophecies  before  their  accomplishment ;  traces  the  prog- 
ress of  events ;  and,  at  last,  separates  such  as.  have  been 
indisputably  fulfilled  from  those  which  have  not.  Proph- 
ecy and  history  thus  act  and  react  on  each  other ;  they 
are  inseparable ;  they  blend  as  lights. 

29* 


342  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

I.    BIBLE  HISTORY  IN  RELATION  TO  PROPHECY. 

While  prophecy  embraces  two  departments,  the  moral 
or  doctrinal  and  the  predictive,  it  is  with  the  latter  we 
have  at  present  to  do  chiefly,  and  with  that  only  in  its 
specially  distinctive  character.  Some  exalt  the  one  and 
depreciate  the  other ;  but  both  have  their  value.  Com- 
prehensively, prophecy  includes  all  those  truths,  or  se- 
crets, which  men  could  not,  in  the  circumstances  of  their 
age,  ascertain  by  their  own  unaided  energies.  It  was 
the  privilege  of  those  who  were  appointed  by  the  Great 
Revealer,  to  proclaim  them,  whether  the  truths  unfolded 
had  reference  to  the  past,  the  present,  or  the  future,  or 
to  all  combined ;  and,  be  the  form  or  substance  what  it 
may,  it  was  still  a  revelation.  If  we  even  restrict  our 
view  of  prophecy  to  the  moral  alone,  as  fundamental,  we 
discover  so  much  that  is  distinctive,  that  the  Bible  can- 
not be  classed  with  other  histories.  The  laws  of  God, 
his  dominion,  his  providence,  his  majesty,  his  holiness, 
justice,  and  mercy  ;  man's  obligation  of  obedience  to  him, 
and  his  duties  to  his  fellow-men,  are  all  set  forth  with  a 
vividness  and  an  authoritativeness  which  are  elsewhere 
unequalled.  So  thickly  are  the  pages  of  prophecy  strewn 
with  the  original  principles  of  morality  and  religion,* 
that  no  unprejudiced  student  can  fail  to  be  arrested  by 
them. 

And  if  we  adopt  the  view  in  which  prophecy  is 
regarded  as  merely  predictive  of  events  which  could  not 
possibly  have  been  foreknown  by  any  science  or  wisdom 

*  "  Davidson  on  Prophecy,"  p.  28.     187a 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  343 

of  man,  but  which  must  have  been  revealed  by  the  Om- 
niscient Ruler,  there  is  that  which  is  so  singular  that  it 
raises  the  Bible  above  all  the  ordinary  histories  by  which 
it  has  ever  been  tested. 

As  the  older  prophets,  one  after  another,  traverse  the 
sphere  of  Bible  History,  the  observant  student  recog- 
nizes in  each  an  accredited  "Man  of  God."  Their  mes- 
sages, their  looks,  their  tones,  are  so  singular  that  they 
cannot  be  classed  with  even  the  greatest  actors  in  the 
world-histories.  Their  place  and  their  function  are  pe- 
culiarly their  own.  In  their  fervent  unselfishness,  in  their 
lofty  aspirations,  in  their  intuitional  insight,  they  are 
peerless.  In  following  their  footsteps,  the  student  real- 
izes an  ennobling  companionship,  and  cherishes  impres- 
sions which  were  hitherto  unknown  to  him. 

Although  there  are  exceptions  to  this  general  state- 
ment, in  such  instances  as  those  of  Balaam  and  Caia- 
phas — the  one  an  unwilling,  and  the  other  an  uncon- 
scious, instrument* — and  although  it  must  be  slightly 
modified  to  meet  such  a  faltering  of  faith,  and  love,  and 
submissiveness  as  Jonah  temporarily  exhibited,  or  such 
selfishness  and  hardihood  as  the  old  prophet  at  Bethel 
showed,  they  only  the  more  strikingly  manifest  the  gen- 
eral rule  of  the  Divine  procedure  as  in  harmony  with  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Divine  purpose.  The  greatness  of  the 
prophets  of  the  old  as  well  as  of  the  New  Testament  is 
distinctly  visible,  not  so  much  in  their  unfolding  present 
truth  and  instructing  the  people,  as  in  their  insight  of  the 
distant  future,  regarded  as  an  evolution  from  the  present. 
*  "  Fairbairn  on  Prophecy,"  p.  499.     Second  edition. 


344  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

The  truths  revealed,  and  the  spirit  of  the  revealers, 
separate  the  prophets  from  all  other  men.  Their  oracles 
are  a  phenomenon  which  cannot  be  overlooked.  They 
are  alone,  they  arrest  attention,  and  educe  a  feeling  of 
awe.  The  twofold  function  of  prophecy,  while  it  per- 
vades Bible  history,  and  unites  all  its  parts  so  as  to  con- 
stitute an  organic  whole,  is  itself  an  evidence  of  the  truth 
of  the  Bible,  which  encourages  the  believer  to  rest  with 
confidence  in  the  controlling  wisdom  and  power  of  God. 
Our  Lord  himself  hath  said,  "Now  I  tell  you  before  it 
come,  that,  when  it  is  come  to  pass,  ye  may  believe  that 
I  am  he."     John  13  :  19. 

The  apparent  vagueness  of  some  of  the  prophecies  is 
no  valid  reason  for  rejecting  them.  While  some  are 
confessedly  difficult  of  interpretation,  there  is  a  necessity 
for  vagueness,  because  the  definite  revelation  of  future 
events  would  arrest  the  activity  and  mar  the  peace  of 
nations  or  communities  ;  and  their  approach,  therefore,  is 
so  enveloped  in  allegory,  that  the  accomplishment  of  the 
prophecy  becomes  its  clearest  and  most  satisfactory  ex- 
position. "  Prophecy  must  thus,  in  many  instances,  have 
that  darkness  which  is  impenetrable  at  first,  as  well  as 
that  light  which  shall  completely  dispel  every  doubt  at 
last ;  and  as  it  cannot  be  an  evidence  of  Christianity 
until  the  event  demonstrate  its  own  truth,  it  may  remain 
obscure  till  Jiistory  become  its  interpreter,  and  not  be 
perfectly  obvious  till  the  fulfilment  of  the  whole  series 
with  which  it  is  connected."*  But  with  the  obscure 
prophecies  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  occupy  time,  while 

*  "  Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  by  the- Rev.  Dr.  Keith,  p.  7.     1868. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  345 

so  much  that  is  indisputable  is  at  hand.  Let  it  be  under- 
stood, however,  that  while  some  are  detached  from  the 
others  for  the  purposes  of  our  general  argument,  all  the 
prophecies  are  to  be  held  related  to  one  another ;  they 
converge  to  one  centre,  Christ,  and  they  spread  from  this 
centre,  outwards,  over  his  extending  kingdom,  until  it  is 
completely  encircled.  It  will  be  enough  to  place  to- 
gether, by  way  of  illustration,  two  or  three  prominent 
examples  of  fulfilled  prophecy,  as  indicating  a  line  of 
proof  which,  to  many  minds  in  all  ages  of  the  Church, 
has  been  as  a  fountain  of  water  in  a  withering  wilderness. 

II.    THE   EVIDENCE    OF    PROPHECY. 

Sacred  History  and  Prophecy,  blending  at  the  very 
commencement  of  Revelation,  still  continue  to  illustrate 
the  principles  of  the  Divine  Government.  The  words 
of  the  Great  Ruler,  spoken  after  the  fall  of  our  first  pa- 
rents, are  distinctly  explanatory  of  the  misery  in  the 
world,  and  of  the  happiness  in  the  church.  "And  I  will 
put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between 
thy  seed  and  her  seed  ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou 
shalt  bruise  his  heel.  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will 
greatly  multiply  thy  sorrow  and  thy  conception  ;  in  sor- 
row thou  shalt  bring  forth  children  ;  and  thy  desire  shall 
be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee.  And 
unto  Adam  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto 
the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree,  of  which 
I  commanded  thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it : 
cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake  ;  in  sorrow  shalt  thou 
eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life."     Gen.  3:15—17. 


346  BLENDING  LIGHTS. . 

In  this  brief  statement  is  the  germ  of  all  history. 
Every  Messianic  prophecy  is  traceable  to  it ;  and  in  it 
are  the  secrets  of  human  sorrow  and  Christian  joy.  In 
its  light  we  can  more  easily  comprehend  the  universal 
social  and  moral  turmoil,  the  struggles  for  salvation,  the 
triumphs  of  holiness,  and  the  certainty  of  victory  when 
"  the  head"  of  the  serpent  is  bruised,  and  the  evil  prin- 
ciple has  become  powerless,  by  which  man  was  seduced 
to  his  fall.  No  sooner  had  man  lost  the  high  position 
assigned  him,  and  passed  into  the  gloom  of  condemna- 
tion, than  the  first  prediction  beamed  in  mercy  upon  him. 
Its  light  is  the  dawn  and  dayspring  of  prophecy,  showing 
that "  Man  was  not  excluded  from  Paradise  till  prophecy  had 
sent  him  forth  with  some  pledge  and  hope  of  consolation."* 

Within  this  wide  view  may  be  collected  all  the  proph- 
ecies of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  there  is  not  a  subordi- 
nate prediction  which  does  not  find  its  meaning  and  vin- 
dication in  this  briefly  unfolded  plan  of  redemption. 
While  the  whole  body  of  ancient  Prophecy  is  intimately 
related  to  the  way  of  salvation,  and  while,  with  history 
as  its  channel,  it  seems  to  end  in  the  crucifixion  and  resur- 
rection of  the  Lord  Jesus,  it  reappears  in  the  extension  of 
Christianity,  and  in  its  prospects  of  illimitable  blessedness. 

After  this  twofold  sentence  of  condemnation  and  of 
promise,  Prophecy  appears  in  two  distinct  forms,  the 
one  prediction  in  words,  and  the  other  prediction  in  ac- 
tions ;  it  often  sets  forth  the  same  truths,  now  verbally 
and  now  in  types.  While  they  are  mutually  illustrative, 
and  while  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  supernatural  in- 

*  "  Davison  on  Prophecy,"  p.  53. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  347 

fluence,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  limit  this  part  of  the 
argument  to  two  or  three  of  those  more  comprehensive 
prophecies  whose  fulfilment  history  is  still  exhibiting 
with  a  breadth  and  distinctness  which  cannot  be  either 
ignored  or  despised. 

1.  The  first  comprehensive  and  far-reaching  prophecy 
after  the  flood,  comes  to  us  in  the  words  of  Noah,  "  And 
he  said,  Cursed  be  Canaan  ;  a  servant  of  servants  shall 
he  be  unto  his  brethren.  And  he  said,  Blessed  be  the 
Lord  God  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant. 
God  shall  enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the 
tents  of  Shem  ;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant."  Gen. 
9:25-27.  For  more  than  three  thousand  years  this 
prophecy  has  been  historically  tested  and  verified.  The 
rebuke  that  fell  on  Canaan  still  rests  on  his  race  ;  and 
the  blessings  promised  to  Shem  and  Japheth  are  still 
spreading  among  their  descendants. 

The  sacred  historical  delineations  of  each  family  de- 
scending from  Noah,  and  of  their  different  settlements, 
afford  to  us  the  means  of  ascertaining  whether  this 
prophecy  is  holding  good  or  not. 

Japheth  and  his  descendants  had,  for  their  territory, 
Europe,  or  the  countries  beyond  the  Mediterranean. 
"By  these  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their 
lands  ;  every  one  after  his  tongue,  after  their  families,  in 
their  nations."  Gen.  10:5.  The  descendants  of  Ham  had 
Africa  and  the  southwest  of  Asia  for  their  portion. 
"  And  the  sons  of  Ham  ;  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Phut, 
And  Canaan.  .  .  .  and  afterward  were  the  families  of  the 
Canaanites  spread  abroad.     And  the  border  of  the  Ca- 


348  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

naanites  was  from  Siclon."  Gen.  10  :6,  18,  19.  Tyre,  and 
Carthage  also,  whose  position  in  ancient  history  was  so 
distinguished,  were  their  cities.  The  sons  of  Shem  and 
their  families  had  their  home  in  the  East.  "And  their 
dwelling  was  from  Mesha,  as  thou  goest  unto  Sephar, 
a  mount  of  the  east."  Gen.  10:30.  The  respective  ter- 
ritories of  Japheth,  Ham,  and  Shem,  are  distinctly  out- 
lined ;  and  while  very  many  changes  have  passed  over 
their  separate  "  families,"  or  divisions  of  the  human  race, 
these  old  distinctions  remain  as  deep  as  ever.  Although 
cursory  readers  regard  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  as 
valueless,  it  is  the  most  remarkable  historical  document 
in  existence ;  remarkable,  because  associated  with  facts 
in  the  past  which  have  been  established,  and  with  facts 
in  the  future  which  could  only  be  known  to  one  super- 
naturally  instructed.  No  page  of  history  can  be  made 
parallel  with  it.  The  records  of  succeeding  centuries  con- 
firm it,  and  the  present  condition  of  the  world  is  its 
commentary.  The  descendants  of  Ham,  in  Africa,  are 
"  the  servant  of  servants,"  although,  at  the  beginning 
of  their  history,  they  had  a  glorious  career  in  Asia,  with 
Babylon  as  their  centre  ;  and  another  triumphant  career 
when  the  Carthaginians,  with  Hannibal  as  leader,  almost 
made  Rome  and  Europe  their  servant.  Similarly,  at  the 
close  of  their  history,  or  near  it,  grander  triumphs,  be- 
cause moral  and  spiritual,  may  give  lustre  to  their  his- 
tory, when  they  own  the  Saviour's  sway,  and  are,  with 
Japheth  and  Shem,  "  the  servants"  of  the  Lord  alone. 

Now,  is  not  Japheth  "  enlarged"  everywhere  by  ex- 
tending intellectual  and  political  influence  ?     Does  not 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  349 

every  emigrant  vessel  from  Europe,  as  it  carries  to  dis- 
tant lands  the  foundation  of  new  colonies,  fulfil  and 
establish  this  olden  prophecy  ?  And  are  not  the  advan- 
ces of  Britain  in  India  on  the  one  side,  and  of  Russia  on 
the  other,  the  fulfilment,  in  even  a  literal  sense,  of  the 
declaration  that  Japheth  "  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of 
Shem"  ?  "  What  simile,  drawn  from  the  simplicity  of 
primeval  ages,  could  be  more  strikingly  graphic  of  the 
numerous  and  extensive  European  colonies  in  Asia? 
And  how  much  have  the  posterity  of  Japheth  been  en- 
larged within  the  regions  of  the  posterity  of  Shem  ?  In 
how  many  of  their  ancient  cities  do  they  dwell  ?  How 
many  settlements  have  they  established  ?  while  there  is 
not  a  single  spot  in  Europe  the  colony  or  the  property 
of  any  of  the  nations  whom  the  Scriptures  represent  as 
descended  from  Shem,  or  who  inhabit  any  part  of  that 
quarter  of  the  world  which  they  possessed.  And  it  may 
be  said  in  reference  to  our  own  island,  and  to  the  immense 
extent  of  the  British  Asiatic  dominions,  that  the  nations 
of  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  dtvell  in  the  tents  of  the  East ! 
Whence,  then,  could  such  a  prophecy  have  emanated, 
but  from  inspiration  by  Him  whose  presence  and  whose 
prescience  are  alike  unlimited  by  space  or  by  time  ?"* 

2.  There  are  prophecies  which  require  historical  con- 
ditions for  their  fulfilment  so  opposite  that  they  cannot 
possibly  be  reduced  within  the  sphere  of  the  merely 
natural,  and  to  some  of  these  alone  we  shall  restrict  our 
proof.  The  following  tests  are  not  only  applicable  to 
them,  but  separate  them  from  all  that  the  most  keen- 

*  "  The  Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  by  Dr.  Keith,  p.  523. 
30 


35 o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

sighted  sagacity  could  predict :  "  That  the  prediction  be 
known  to  have  been  promulgated  before  the  event  ;  that 
the  event  in  question  be  such  as  could  not  have  been  fore- 
seen, at  the  time  when  it  was  predicted,  by  any  effort  of  hu- 
man reason  ;  and  that  the  event  and  prediction  correspond 
together  in  a  clear  and  adequate  accomplishment."*  It 
is  sufficient  for  our  argument  to  examine  only  those 
prophecies  which  have  reference  to  three  nations  whose 
histories  are  so  singular,  and  to  three  cities  whose  over- 
throw and  destruction  were  brought  about  by  means  so 
diverse,  that  they  cannot  possibly  be  explained  by  any 
natural  prescience,  however  vivid. 

Two  of  the  earliest  and  less  general  prophecies,  the 
one  referring  to  the  Ishmaelites,  the  other  to  the  Israel- 
ites, are  in  fulfilment,  so  diverse,  that  no  unaided  human 
being  could  have  even  planned  such  a  future  as  in  the 
least  degree  probable. 

i.  The  prediction  regarding  Ishmael  is  remarkably 
clear  and  intelligible.  "And  thou  shalt  bear  a  son,  and 
shalt  call  his  name  Ishmael.  .  .  .  And  he  will  be  a  wild 
man  ;  and  his  hand  will  be  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  against  him  ;  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  presence 
of  all  his  brethren.  .  .  .  Twelve  princes  shall  he  beget, 
and  I  will  make  him  a  great  nation."    Gen.  16:12;  17 :  20. 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  prophecy  was  not  pro- 
mulgated till  the  time  of  Moses  ;  but  taking  the  facts  as 
they  lie  before  us  since  that  distant  time,  they  constitute 
strongly  presumptive  evidence  that  the  prophecy  was 
uttered  before  Ishmael's  birth,  and  was  preserved  in  the 

*  "Davison  on  Prophecy,"  p.  34S. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  35 r 

traditions  and  writings  of  the  people,  until   Moses  gave 
it  a  permanent  place  in  the  Scripture  record. 

This  prophecy  has,  in  every  particular,  proved  true  ; 
it  has  photographed  a  national  character  which,  for  more 
than  three  thousand  years,  has  continued  unchanged. 

In  all  ages,  historians  have  described  the  Bedouin 
Arab  as  a  "  wild  man,"  or  wild  ass-man  ;  as  roving,  pred- 
atory, engaged  in  ceaseless  feuds  with  his  neighbors, 
reckless  of  the  milder  restraints  of  civilization,  and  set- 
ting at  defiance  those  international  laws  which  regulate 
the  intercourse  of  surrounding  nations.  The  Ishmaelites 
or  Arabians  have  ever  held  fast  by  the  same  country. 
Anchored  in  one  land,  they  have  swung  over  surrounding 
communities,  only  to  settle,  at  last,  in  their  own  appoint- 
ed territory,  and  to  retain  precisely  the  same  character- 
istics. The  "  wildness,"  which  in  other  tribes  and  nations 
has  been  first  softened,  then  effaced,  has,  in  their  fea- 
tures, never  been  even  lessened  by  the  lapse  of  ages. 
Not  dispersed  by  conquest,  nor  wasted  by  migration,  they 
dwell  still  "in  the  presence  of  all  their  brethren,"  a 
strange  national  spectacle,  utterly  inexplicable  by  those 
laws  which  regulate  other  races.  Comparatively  fugitive 
and  unstable  as  are  the  general  characteristics  of  nations 
while  the  influences  of  centuries  sweep  over  them  as 
tidal  waves  on  the  shore,  the  Ishmaelites  remain  the 
same  as  when  this  strangely-expressed  prophecy  was  first 
uttered  by  the  angel  of  the  Lord. 

The  more  powerful  national  influences,  the  attractions 
of  fairer  lands,  and  the  luxury  of  indolent  races,  utterly 
failed  to  change  in  the  least  their  characteristic  features, 


352  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

during  that  splendid  period  when  their  empire  extended 
from  the  borders  of  India  to  the  Atlantic.  Through  all 
they  stood  forth  a  perpetual  representation  of  the  facts 
predicted  in  their  history,  and  their  present  condition 
harmonizes  with  that  of  many  ages  ago. 

2.  In  contrast  with  this  prophecy,  there  are  those 
which  delineate  the  marvellous  future  of  the  Jews  with 
such  depth  and  distinctness  that  they  arrest  the  most 
careless  reader.  Moses  foretold  their  future  when  their 
prospect  was  brightened  by  the  increasing  light  of  ful- 
filled promises,  as  they  neared  the  land  of  Canaan.  Their 
history,  at  the  present  day,  cannot  be  written  in  more 
truthful  and  striking  terms  than  in  those  which  Moses 
used  three  thousand  years  ago  :  "  I  will  scatter  you  among 
the  heathen,  and  will  draw  out  a  sword  after  you ;  and 
your  land  shall  be  desolate,  and  your  cities  waste.  .  .  . 
And  upon  them  that  are  left  alive  of  you,  I  will  send  a 
faintness  into  their  hearts  in  the  lands  of  their  enemies ; 
and  the  sound  of  a  shaken  leaf  shall  chase  them ;  and 
they  shall  flee,  as  fleeing  from  a  sword ;  and  they  shall 
fall  when  none  pursueth.  .  .  .  And  ye  shall  have  no 
power  to  stand  before  your  enemies. .  .  .  And  yet  for 
all  that,  when  they  be  in  the  land  of  their  enemies,  I  will 
not  cast  them  away,  neither  will  I  abhor  them,  to  destroy 
them  utterly."  Lev.  26:33,  3&>  37>  44-  "The  Lord 
shall  bring  thee,  and  thy  king,  which  thou  shalt  set  over 
thee,  unto  a  nation  which  neither  thou  nor  thy  fathers 
have  known.  .  .  .  And  thou  shalt  become  an  astonish- 
ment, a  proverb,  and  a  byword  among  all  nations.  .  .  . 
And  the  Lord  shall  scatter  thee  among  all  people,  from 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  353 

the  one  end  of  the  earth  even  unto  the  other."  Deut. 
28  :  36,  37,  64.  Long  afterwards,  the  prophets  wrote  in 
the  same  strain.  "  I  will  cause  them  to  be  removed  into 
all  kingdoms  of  the  earth.  ...  I  will  cast  you  out  into 
a  land  that  ye  know  not."  Jer.  15:4;  16:13.  "For 
lo,  I  will  command,  and  I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel 
among  all  nations,  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  yet 
shall  not  the  least  grain  fall  upon  the  earth."  Amos  9  :g. 
These  are  merely  examples  of  many  predictions 
which  might  be  quoted  ;  they  have  the  clearness  of  his- 
tory, and  they  have  now  the  emphasis  of  a  fulfilment 
which  is  mysterious  in  its  antecedent  process,  but  clear 
as  noonday  in  its  results.  By  the  laws  of  amalgamation 
or  extinction,  we  can  account  for  the  changes  which  ap- 
pear in  the  smaller  as  well  as  vaster  nations  of  the  world  ; 
we  can  trace  the  causes  by  which  Hungary  and  Poland 
have  been  prostrated,  and  by  which  Russia  is  still  rising 
and  extending  in  her  colossal  strength  ;  we  can  see  in 
the  ruin  of  France,  in  the  triumph  of  Prussia,  and  the 
gradual  collapse  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  various  forces  at 
work  which  have  often  reappeared  in  history ;  we  can 
trace  in  the  slow  amalgamation  of  races  in  America,  and 
in  the  rapid  disappearance  of  Indian  tribes,  laws  definite 
almost  as  those  which  regulate  the  planetary  system  ; 
we  have  a  sound  philosophy  of  history,  whose  great  aim 
is  not  the  mere  aggregate  of  many  facts,  but  the  exposi- 
tion of  their  causes,  and  we  are  satisfied  with  the  conclu- 
sions which  have  been  reached ;  but  in  the  Israelites  we 
have  a  people  which  baffle  historical  adjustment,  and 
whose  characteristics  are  not  reducible  within  any  com- 

30* 


354 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


monly-recognized  classification.  They  remain  a' marvel- 
lous isolation.  In  Britain,  the  distinctions  of  Norman 
and  Celt  and  Saxon  are  fast  disappearing  ;  but  the  Jews 
are  everywhere  "scattered,"  and  yet  everywhere  retain 
not  only  their  physical  features,  but  their  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  conformation.  Apart  from  the  Bible, 
unaided  reason  has  failed  to  solve  the  problem  of  a  peo- 
ple scattered  and  down-trodden  by  the  nations  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years,  yet  universally  preserved. 

What  a  terrible  past  has  been  theirs  !  What  a  mys- 
terious present !  "  Plucked  from  off  their  own  land," 
and  "smitten  before  their  enemies,"  they  yet  survive,  not 
obscurely,  but  with  historical  lustre,  as  in  a  mirror's  scat- 
tered fragments,  and  with  a  prominence  which  the  world 
owns.  Adrian  made  it  death  to  the  Jew  to  set  his  foot 
amid  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem ;  Justinian  abolished  the 
synagogues  ;  Mahomet  sought  the  destruction  of  every 
Jew  ;  the  Church  of  Rome  has  done  her  best  for  their 
extirpation,  and  has  failed ;  the  thunders  of  her  excom- 
munication have  rolled  over  every  land  which  her  influ- 
ence could  reach  ;  "  the  Jews "  were  everywhere  the 
objects  of  popular  insult,  of  almost  intolerable  oppres- 
sion, and  frequently  of  a  general  massacre.  No  mode  of 
cruelty  was  deemed  unjustifiable.  Again  and  again  were 
they  banished  from  France ;  they  were  driven  from 
Spain  ;  England,  during  the  Crusades,  gathered  her  for- 
ces to  destroy  them ;  the  barons,  to  win  popular  favor 
during  their  struggle  with  Henry  III.,  slaughtered  seven 
hundred  of  them,  and  plundered  their  houses ;  Edward  I. 
seized  all  their  property,  and  drove  them  in  misery  from 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  355 

the  kingdom,  and  four  hundred  dreary  years  elapsed  ere 
they  ventured  to  return.  There  is  no  history  which  is 
not  darkened  by  their  wrongs,  and  there  is  none  un- 
stained by  their  blood.  Most  fearful  has  been  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prophecies  that  they  shall  be  a  "  proverb," 
an  "astonishment,"  a  "byword,"  a  "taunt,"  and  a  "hiss- 
ing among  all  nations."*  The  Jew  is,  at  this  moment,  a 
wanderer  in  every  land,  with  a  home  in  none.  In  no 
country  is  he  unknown,  from  Norway  to  Japan,  from 
Spain  to  Southern  Africa ;  and  no  social  grade  in  the 
East  or  the  West  is  without  his  presence.  In  Shiraz,  as 
Dr.  Wolf  has  told  us,  young  men,  old  men,  and  women, 
sit  on  the  streets  begging.  With  head  bowed  down,  and 
hand  stretched  out,  they  cry  piteously  to  the  stranger: 
"  Only  one  penny,  only  one  penny,  I  am  a  poor  Israelite, 
I  am  a  poor  Israelite."  "I  wonder  not,"  he  adds,  "that 
their  harp  is  mute."  From  that  sunken  state  in  the 
East,  and  from  similar  obscurity  and  apparent  helpless- 
ness in  every  one  of  our  great  cities,  they  rise  through 
every  social  stage,  until  they  sit  honored  amid  the  proud- 
est. In  London,  Paris,  Vienna,  and  Berlin,  they  are  the 
money-holders  of  Europe,  deciding  the  questions  of  peace 
and  war,  and  giving  impulse  or  restraint  to  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  Although  inwrought  with  the  whole  fabric 
of  society,  they  are  yet  not  of  it ;  they  are  truly  a  "  pecu- 
liar people,"  resisting  almost  all  those  social,  intellectual, 
and  moral  agencies  by  which  communities  are  changed. 
Their  preservation  seems  all  the  more  astonishing 

*  See  "Keith  on  the  Evidence  of  Prophecy,"  and  Hallam's  History, 
vol.  1. 


356  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

when  we  remember  that  locality  was  part  of  their  reli- 
gious system.  Jerusalem  was  essential  to  it.  The  Chris- 
tian may  build  his  church,  or  the  Pagan  his  temple,  wher- 
ever he  pleases  ;  but  the  Jew  may  build  his  nowhere  save 
in  the  Holy  City.  Thus,  their  religion  was  localized  ; 
but  they  still  cleave  to  the  past,  and  still  look  wistfully, 
yet  with  brightening  hope  to  the  future.  For  more  than 
sixty  generations  have  they  thus  mingled  with  the  Gen- 
tile races,  yet  they  have  kept  aloof,  they  have  eaten  the 
passover,  and  have  been  sandalled  for  the  expected  fulfil- 
ment of  many  prophecies.  How  account  for  these  strange 
facts  ?  How  explain  the  movements  of  Jewish  history  ? 
The  philosophy  of  history  has  hitherto  failed.  The  con- 
dition of  this  mysterious  people  has  proved  inexplicable 
by  any  of  the  ordinary  laws  of  human  history.  By  the 
Scriptures  alone  we  are  guided  to  the  right  solution. 
The  Jews  are  dispersed,  but  not  destroyed  ;  because  the 
Lord  of  Glory,  by  whom  they  have  been  condemned,  has 
purposes  yet  unfulfilled.  But  how  explain  the  fact,  ex- 
cept by  admitting  the  supernatural  ?  That  these  condi- 
tions have  been  actually  foretold  so  many  centuries  before, 
cannot  be  disputed,  for  the  prophecies  have  a  place  in 
the  oldest  writings  in  the  world.  Similarly  dark  sayings 
have  been  spoken  in  succeeding  ages.  Results,  unim- 
aginable by  human  wisdom,  have  been  boldly  predicted, 
and  they  have  appeared  mysteriously  in  the  manner  anti- 
cipated. As  the  human  mind  often  vacillates  regarding 
even  the  nearest  events  and  their  issues,  is  it  in  the  least 
degree  probable  that  it  could  have  ever  so  penetrated  the 
secrets  of  time  as  accurately  to  anticipate  Jewish  history  ? 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  357 

Is  there  not  fullest  evidence  in  all  that  bears  upon  the 
condition  of  the  Jews,  that  a  higher  knowledge  than 
man's  has  been  making  their  future  known  ?  The  pro- 
phetic record  is  not  made  up  of  random  conjectures  or 
gloomy  forebodings.  "There  is  not  only  foresight,  but 
foresight  of  a  most  impartial  and  discriminating  kind, 
capable  alike  of  descrying  the  darker  and  the  brighter 
aspects  of  the  future  ;  dwelling  even  with  painful  empha- 
sis on  the  coming  evil,  and  reiterating  it,  yet  without  ever 
losing  sight  of  the  coming  good  ;  and  even  when  the 
clouds  of  present  trouble  gathered  thickest,  only  proceed- 
ing with  a  clearer  eye  and  a  more  assured  step  to  reveal 
the  glorious  and  blessed  future  that  lay  beyond.  Most 
remarkably  have  both  parts  of  the  prospective  outline 
been  fulfilled."*  It  "  seems  undeniable  that  most  stri- 
king fulfilments  have  taken  place  of  what  no  merely  hu- 
man eye  could  have  foreseen,  nor  the  shrewdest  intellect 
anticipated."!  And  we  reassert  that  the  argument  has 
all  the  greater  weight,  when  we  contrast  the  future  of 
Ishmael  with  the  future  of  Israel,  and  the  dissimilar 
agencies  by  which  their  destiny  has  hitherto  been  deter- 
mined. Ishmael  still  localized  in  Arabia,  and  Israel  dis- 
persed over  the  whole  world,  are  separate  yet  steadfast 
witnesses  of  a  ruling  hand  behind  their  extraordinary 
histories. 

3.  Older  than  the  Ishmaelites  and  the  Israelites,  civ- 
ilized and  powerful  before  their  different  races  had  any 
appreciable  influence  on  the  world,  the  Egyptians  had 
maintained  their  matchless  powers ;  and  the  splendors  of 

*  "  Fairbairn  on  Prophecy,"  p.  222.  I  Ibid.,  p.  223. 


358  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

their  early  empire  are  still  seen,  though  dimly,  in  Thebes 
and  Memphis,  in  Heliopolis  and  Phibeseth,  in  pyramids, 
obelisks,  and  sphinxes.  Everything  in  Egypt's  early 
history  betokened  a  continuance  of  her  power ;  in  subse- 
quent centuries,  temporary  reverses  were  soon  corrected, 
and  yet,  in  the  midst  of  abounding  evidences  of  stability, 
prophets  foretold  a  national  history  altogether  peculiar, 
and  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of  either  Ishmael  or 
Israel.  Through  the  same  laws  of  human  foresight  or 
sagacity,  the  rationalist  cannot  possibly  account  for  pre- 
dictions so  widely  varying,  as  those  which  describe  the 
future  of  the  Arabians,  the  Jews,  and  the  Egyptians. 

National  changes,  that  are  utterly  inconsistent  with 
those  anticipations  which  the  previous  course  of  Egyp- 
tian history  should  have  suggested,  were  foretold  with 
the  most  fearless  confidence.  The  minuter,  as  well  as 
the  more  general  prophecies,  have  been  notably  fulfilled  ; 
but  it  is  necessary  for  our  present  object  to  refer  only  to 
two  or  three  of  those  more  prominent  predictions  which 
describe  Egypt's  future  state. 

"  And  they  shall  be  there  a  base  kingdom.  It  shall 
be  the  basest  of  the  kingdoms  ;  neither  shall  it  exalt 
itself  any  more  above  the  nations  :  for  I  will  diminish 
them,  that  they  shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations." 
Ezekiel  29:14,  15.  "And  there  shall  no  more  be  a 
prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt :  and  I  will  put  a  fear  in 
the  land  of  Egypt."     Ezekiel  30  :  13. 

The  condition  of  Egypt  is  so  different  from  that  of 
the  Jews  or  Ishmaelites,  that  "  he  who  runs  may  read 
it ;"  the  former  are  scattered  and  without  a  home,  and 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  359 

the  latter  are  independent  and  free  as  they  were  three 
thousand  years  ago :  but  Egypt  has  sunk  to  be  base 
among  the  nations,  and  to  be  ruled  by  foreigners  or 
strangers.  That  kingdom  which  was  long  the  most  pow- 
erful and  most  honored  among  the  nations  of  the  world, 
has  become  the  helpless  victim  of  successive  oppressors. 
Assyria  first  rivalled  her  splendor,  and,  after  lessening 
her  power  for  a  season,  humbled  her.  Three  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian  era,  the  Persians  re- 
duced her  to  a  comparatively  degraded  condition,  and  in 
succession  the  Macedonians,  the  Romans,  the  Saracens, 
the  Mamelukes,  and  the  Turks,  have  trodden  her  fertile 
plains  and  greatly  embarrassed  her. 

Although  Egypt  temporarily  revived  under  the  vig- 
orous rule  of  the  Ptolemies,  they  were  "foreigners,"  and 
the  predictions  held  true,  "  There  shall  no  more  be  a 
prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt:"  "The  sceptre  of  Egypt 
shall  depart  away."  For  more  than  two  thousand  years 
the  degradation  of  the  kingdom  has  been  painfully  visi- 
ble amid  a  profusion  of  nature's  benefits.  Its  compara- 
tively ignominious  state,  its  acknowledged  baseness 
among  nations  in  the  midst  of  which  it  is  still  lingering, 
enfeebled  and  paralyzed,  so  distinctly  fulfil  the  bold 
prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  that  we  are  justified 
in  demanding  the  acceptance  of  supernatural  teaching 
as  the  explanation  of  Egypt's' varying  history.  Every 
fact  which  travellers  describe,  and  the  past  and  the  pres- 
ent historical  photographs  by  which  modern  inquiries 
have  assisted  the  student  of  prophecy,  so  vindicate  and 
confirm  the  truth  of  the  predictions,  that  no  one  can 


360  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

escape  without  difficulty  from  the  impression  that  the 
prophets  were  supernaturally  guided  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  the  truths  which  they  have  written.* 

There  is  another  series  of  prophecies  minuter,  and  in 
some  of  their  aspects  more  specific,  which  yet,  in  detail 
and  results,  are  so  different  that  no  rationalistic  theory 
can  possibly  harmonize  and  explain  them.  The  predic- 
tions regarding  Tyre,  Nineveh,  and  Babylon,  are  so  dis- 
tinct, and  they  have  been  so  literally  fulfilled,  that  it  is 
almost  inconceivable  how  any  unprejudiced  student  can 
repudiate  the  idea  of  a  deeper  insight  and  a  surer  guid- 
ance than  man's. 

The  prophecies  were  uttered  when  these  great  cities 
were  basking  in  the  light  of  prosperity,  and  there  was  no 
likelihood  of  ruin.  With  our  knowledge  of  ages  of  his- 
tory, and,  consequently,  of  those  laws  that  determine  the 
growth  and  decay  of  nations,  we  might  anticipate  with 
tolerable  accuracy  the  upbreaking  of  an  empire,  or  the 
overthrow  of  a  city ;  but  this  experience  was  not  pos- 
sessed by  the  prophets,  and  even  if  they  had  possessed 
such  knowledge  of  national  history  as  men  now  enjoy, 
they  could  not  possibly  have  described  with  such  exact- 
ness ruins  so  different  as  are  those  of  the  cities  to  which 
reference  has  just  been  made.  Not  only  are  the  prophe- 
cies general  in  their  outline,  but  they  state  such  distinct 
particulars  as  no  mere  human  foresight  could  have  dis- 
covered.    Let  us  notice  them  briefly  in  detail. 

i.  Those  predictions  which  relate  to  Tyre  are  very 
clearly  embodied  in  the  writings  of  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel. 

*  See  "  Fairbairn  on  Prophecy,"  pp.  208,  209. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  361 

While  Tyre  was  the  very  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  Carthage,  the  rival  of  Rome,  was 
one  of  her  colonies,  Isaiah,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  before  her  overthrow,  with  almost  overwhelming 
earnestness,  foretold  her  approaching  fate;  and  with  sin- 
gular vividness  Ezekiel  wrote  beforehand  the  details  of 
her  devastation.  "  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God, 
Behold,  I  am  against  thee,  O  Tyrus,  and  will  cause  many 
nations  to  come  up  against  thee,  as  the  sea  causeth  his 
waves  to  come  up.  And  they  shall  destroy  the  walls  of 
Tyrus,  and  break  down  her  towers :  I  will  also  scrape  her 
dust  from  her,  and  make  her  like  the  top  of  a  rock.  It 
shall  be  a  place  for  the  spreading  of  nets  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea :  for  I  have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  and 
it  shall  become  a  spoil  to  the  nations.  And  they  shall 
make  a  spoil  of  thy  riches,  and  make  a  prey  of  thy  mer- 
chandise ;  and  they  shall  break  down  thy  walls,  and  de- 
stroy thy  pleasant  houses  :  and  they  shall  lay  thy  stones 
and  thy  timber  and  thy  dust  in  the  midst  of  the  water. 
And  I  will  make  thee  like  the  top  of  a  rock  :  thou  shalt  be 
a  place  to  spread  nets  upon  ;  thou  shalt  be  built  no  more  : 
for  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord  God.  I 
will  make  thee  a  terror,  and  thou  shalt  be  no  more  ; 
though  thou  be  sought  for,  yet  shalt  thou  never  be  found 
again,  saith  the  Lord  God."     Ezek.  26:3-5,  I2>  T4>  2I- 

These  predictions  have  been  literally  fulfilled,  but  at 
intervals  of  time.  Looking  at  lights  in  a  straight  line, 
we  suppose  there  is  only  one  shining,  but  no  sooner  is 
the  one  passed  than  we  discover  others  in  succession  : 
so  is  it  in  this  prophecy  :  its  lights  are  separate  yet  con- 


362  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

tinuous  ;  part  was  fulfilled  at  one  time,  and  part  at  an- 
other. For  thirteen  years  Nebuchadnezzar  plied  the 
siege  of  Tyre,  "  the  head  became  bald,"  and  "  the  shoul- 
der peeled."  Sorely  pressed,  the  Tyrians,  having  trans- 
ferred their  families  and  their  wealth  to  an  island  close 
to  the  shore,  abandoned  old  or  continental  Tyre  to  the 
army  of  the  besieger.  Enraged  by  finding  that  the  citi- 
zens and  their  treasures  had  been  removed  beyond  their 
reach,  they  completely  destroyed  the  city  ;  they  left  it  an 
utter  ruin  ;  and  they  appear  to  have  carried  into  captivity 
the  Tyrian  royal  family.  The  subjection  continued  until 
the  end  of  "  the  seventy  years "  referred  to  by  Isaiah 
2  3  :  1 5—1 7,  when  the  Babylonian  monarch  was  set  aside 
by  the  Persians.  Not  until  Alexander  the  Great  carried 
his  conquests  eastward  was  insular  Tyre  attacked,  and 
as  "the  stones  and  the  timber  and  the  dust"  of  old  Tyre 
were  cast  into  the  sea  to  form  a  passage  from  the  shore 
to  new  Tyre,  for  Alexander's  troops,  the  old  prophecy 
was  literally  fulfilled.  Thus,  the  very  city  was  "  cast  into 
the  sea,"  and  is  "  no  more  ;"  though  sought  for  "  it  cannot 
be  found."  The  desolation  is  complete.  Insular  Tyre 
fell  beneath  the  relentless  arm  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
and  it  is  now  literally,  as  travellers  describe  it,  "  a  place 
for  the  spreading  of  nets  in  the  midst  of  the  sea." 

2.  The  prophecies  regarding  Nineveh  differ  much 
from  those  which  describe  the  overthrow  of  Tyre.  Taken 
literally  and  apart  from  what  has  been  recently  ascer- 
tained by  mound-explorers,  they  appear  to  be  unlikely,  if 
not  contradictory,  in  their  reference  to  the  means  by 
which  the  city  was   to  be  destroyed.     The  accounts  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  363 

Nineveh  in  other  writings  than  the  Bible,  confirm  its 
delineations  of  its  strength  and  grandeur.  Heathen 
historians  have  described  its  walls  as  a  hundred  feet  in 
height,  sixty  miles  in  circumference,  and  defended  by 
fifteen  hundred  towers,  which  were  two  hundred  feet 
high.  With  marvellous  force  and  vividness  does  the 
prophet  Nahum  proclaim  the  means  by  which  this  great 
city  would  be  overthrown,  and  the  permanence  of  its 
desolation.  By  two  opposite  elements — the  flood  and 
the  fire — was  its  overthrow  to  be  achieved  ;  though  vast 
in  its  extent  and  commanding  in  its  power,  it  was  yet  to 
be  covered  with  abominable  filth,  and  "  made  vile  ;"  and 
though  glorious  in  its  position  among  the  nations,  it  was 
destined  to  become  "  a  gazing  stock."  "  But  with  an 
overrunning  flood  he  will  make  an  utter  end  of  the 
place  thereof."  Nahum  1:8.  "  The  gates  of  the  rivers 
shall  be  opened,  and  the  palace  shall  be  dissolved." 
Nahum  2  : 6.  But  fire  also  was  to  be  a  worker  for  the 
destruction  of  this  'doomed  city.  "  For  while  they  be 
folden  together  as  thorns,  and  while  they  are  drunken  as 
drunkards,  they  shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully  dry." 
Nahum  1:10.  "The fire  shall  devour  thy  bars."  Na- 
hum 3  :  13.  "There  shall  the  fire  devour  thee."  Nahum 
3:15.  To  a  heathen  witness  are  we  indebted  for  evi- 
dence of  the  fulfilment  of  these  seemingly  incongruous 
predictions,  and  that  evidence  is  complete.  He  has  told 
us  that  after  the  Assyrian  king  had  gained  these  great 
victories  over  his  enemies,  and  their  power  seemed  ut- 
terly broken,  he  and  his  soldiers  abandoned  themselves 
to  revelry.     But  the  Medes  and  Persians  having  rallied 


364  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

their  scattered  forces,  and  having  received  in  the  Bac- 
trians  a  new  ally,  suddenly  fell  on  the  Assyrian  monarch 
and  his  army,  when  they  had  given  themselves  as  slaves 
to  drink,  and  they  so  completely  overwhelmed  them  that 
the  Assyrian  king  had  to  betake  himself  to  the  city  and 
remain  shut  within  its  walls  as  a  captive.  Thus  was  the 
prophecy  fulfilled,  "While  they  are  drunken  as  drunkards 
they  shall  be  devoured  as  stubble  fully  dry."  Completely 
crushed  by  an  overwhelming  force,  they  were  in  their 
weakness  "  folden  as  thorns."  For  two  years  the  As- 
syrian monarch  was  secure  within  the  strongly-fortified 
city,  but  in  the  third  year,  when  he  had  made  vigorous 
preparations  for  retrieving  his  position,  an  unexpected 
inundation  of  the  river  Tigris  broke  down  the  massive 
wall  and  carried  away  about  twenty  furlongs  of  it ;  "the 
gates  of  the  river  were  opened  "  "  with  an  overrunning 
flood,"  a  breach  was  made  ;  and  the  king,  feeling  that 
all  was  now  lost,  made  for  himself  and  his  associates  a 
large  funeral  pile  of  wood,  and  placing  on  it  his  gold  and 
silver  and  apparel,  he  perished  with  them.  Most  unlikely 
as  was  the  combination,  the  fire  also  did  its  predicted 
work,  and  thus  the  palace  was  dissolved,  or  literally 
"  molten." 

The  same  heathen  historian  has  told  us  that  many 
talents  of  gold  and  silver  which  were  preserved  from  the 
fire  and  found  throughout  the  city,  were  carried  off  by 
the  enemy  to  Ecbatana,  and  from  recent  sources  we  have 
learned  that  the  implements  of  war,  the  robes,  the  orna- 
ments, the  ear-rings,  the  bracelets,  the  vases,  the  chairs, 
the  tables,  the  ordinary  articles  of  domestic  furniture, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  365 

were  designed  with  such  consummate  taste  as  "to  rival 
the  productions  of  the  most  cultivated  period  of  Greek 
art."  And  does  not  this  explain  the  prophetic  injunction, 
"  Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take  ye  the  spoil  of  gold ; 
for  there  is  none  end  of  the  store  and  glory  out  of  all 
the  pleasant  furniture."     Nahum  2  : 9. 

The  completeness  of  the  destruction  and  the  per- 
manence of  the  desolation  were  foretold  with  such  bold 
distinctness,  as  to  give  the  impression  that  Nahum's 
language  was  merely  hyperbolical,  but  the  results  have 
proved  to  the  very  letter  its  historical  accuracy.  The 
Lord  "will  make  an  utter  end  of  the  place  thereof." 
"Affliction  shall  not  rise  up  the  second  time."  "She  is 
empty,  and  void,  and  waste."  "Nineveh  is  laid  waste: 
who  will  bemoan  her  ?"  Nahum  1 : 8,  9 ;  2:10:3:7.  And 
Zephaniah,  with  a  boldness  no  less  arresting  and  impres- 
sive, proclaimed  Nineveh's  destruction  and  ruin.  "  The 
Lord  will  make  Nineveh  a  desolation,  and  dry  like  a 
wilderness.  And  flocks  shall  lie  down  in  the  midst  of 
her,  all  the  beasts  of  the  nations :  both  the  cormorant 
and  the  bittern  shall  lodge  in  the  upper  lintels  of  it; 
their  voice  shall  sing  in  the  windows  ;  desolation  shall  be 
in  the  thresholds  ;  for  he  shall  uncover  the  cedar  work." 
"  How  is  she  become  a  desolation,  a  place  for  beasts  to 
lie  down  in  !"     Zeph.  2:13,  14,  15. 

Fearfully  and  most  convincingly  have  all  these  predic- 
tions been  fulfilled.  Nineveh  has  gone  down  in  "  utter 
ruin."  "Affliction  has  not  risen  up  a  second  time." 
The  very  ruins  were  lost.  Mounds  of  "  abominable  filth" 
were  cast  on  the  place  where  her  palaces  stood,  making 

31* 


266  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

her  "  vile ;"  and  all  that  Layard,  Botta,  and  others  have 
done  in  opening  her  ruins  and  exposing  her  long-buried 
treasures,  have  given  a  new  fulfilment  to  the  prophecy 
by  making  her  "a  gazing  stock"  to  the  whole  civilized 
world. 

3.  No  less  distinct  were  the  prophecies  regarding  the 
destruction  of  Babylon,  but  the  means  of  the  overthrow 
were  so  different  from  those  by  which  Nineveh  was  over- 
whelmed, that  the  prediction  carries  within  itself  indirect 
evidence  of  its  truth.  One  hundred  and  sixty  years 
before  an  enemy  approached  the  city,  its  doom  was  fore- 
told. Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  with  startling  vividness,  and 
yet  in  tones  of  deepest  sadness,  delineate  the  future  of 
Babylon  at  the  time  when  its  glory  and  strength  bade 
defiance  to  every  prediction.  Most  mysteriously  have 
the  springs  of  history  been  touched,  and  most  distinctly 
have  prophetic  results  been  brought  out.  Long  descrip- 
tive passages  in  the  Bible  might  be  quoted,  but  two  or 
three  will  be  sufficient  for  our  argument.  "Behold,  I 
will  stir  up  the  Medes  against  them,  which  shall  not 
regard  silver;  and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in 
it.  And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty  of 
the  Chaldees'  excellence,  shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  It  shall  never  be  inhabited, 
neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from  generation  to  generation : 
neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there ;  neither  shall 
the  shepherds  make  their  fold  there  ;  but  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  desert  shall  lie  there  ;  and  their  houses  shall 
be  full  of  doleful  creatures  ;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there, 
and  satyrs  shall  dance  there.     And  the  wild  beasts  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  367 

the  islands  shall  cry  in  their  desolate  houses,  and  dragons 
in  their  pleasant  pelaces."  Isa.  13:17,  19-22.  Again, 
"  And  Babylon  shall  become  heaps,  a  dwelling-place  for 
dragons,  an  astonishment,  and  a  hissing,  without  an 
inhabitant."  Jer.  51:37.  These  and  similar  predictions 
of  overthrow  and  utter  ruin  have  been  literally  fulfilled, 
as  every  one  knows  who  has  even  very  cursorily  read  the 
history  of  the  ancient  eastern  monarchies.  No  less 
strangely  were  the  means  announced  by  which  this 
powerful  city  was  to  be  overwhelmed,  and  no  less  exactly 
have  the  results  come  forth  as  predicted. 

For  the  taking  of  Nineveh,  a  river  was  to  rise  and 
make  a  breach  ;  but  for  the  taking  of  Babylon  a  river  was 
to  be  withdrawn,  and  its  deserted  bed  was  to  be  a  high- 
way for  the  approach  of  Cyrus'  soldiers.  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  "that  saith  unto  the  deep,  Be  dry;  and  I  will 
dry  up  thy  rivers."  Isa.  44  :  27.  "  A  drought  is  upon 
her  waters ;  and  they  shall  be  dried  up."  Jer.  50 :  38. 
"And  I  will  dry  up  her  sea,  and  make  her  springs  dry." 
Jer.  51  :  36.  The  secrecy  of  the  approach  and  the  help- 
lessness of  the  ensnared  Babylonians,  were  no  less  clear- 
ly taught  in  such  predictions  as  these :  "  I  have  laid  a 
snare  for  thee,  and  thou  art  also  taken,  O  Babylon,  and 
thou  wast  not  aware  :  thou  art  found  and  ALSO 
caught,  because  thou  hast  striven  against  the  Lord." 
Jer.  50  :  24.  It  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  the  well-known 
facts  of  Cyrus  having  turned  the  river  Euphrates  from  its 
course,  and  of  his  troops  passing  secretly  into  the  city 
when  Belshazzar  was  madly  quaffing  wine  from  the 
vessels  of  the  sanctuary,  until  the  mysterious  handwri- 


3 68  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ting  on  the  wall  paralyzed  him  with  terror.  Babylon  was 
"snared  and  caught."  The  soldiers  having  been  taught 
by  Cyrus  that  the  doors  of  the  houses  were  of  palm-wood 
and  covered  with  bitumen,  secretly  carried  torches  with 
them  and  suddenly  set  fire  to  the  city,*  fulfilling  the 
prediction,  "  And  her  high  gates  shall  be  burned  with 
fire  ;  and  the  people  shall  labor  in  vain,  and  the  folk  in 
the  fire,  and  they  shall  be  weary."  Jer.  51  :  58.  So 
complete  was  the  stratagem  of  Cyrus,  so  sudden  the 
seizure  of  the  place,  and  so  silent  and  sure  its  overthrow, 
that  those  in  one  part  of  the  city  did  not  know  for  some 
time  what  disasters  had  overtaken  another  portion  of  the 
inhabitants.  In  every  particular  have  the  prophecies 
been  fulfilled,  and  they  differ  so  completely  in  arrange- 
ment from  those  relating  to  Tyre  and  Nineveh  as  to 
remove  them  from  any  of  the  common  efforts  of  that 
sagacity  or  foresight  of  which  rationalism  has  recently 
attempted  to  make  so  much. 

In  short,  the  details  are  so  varied,  and  yet  so  accurate- 
ly stated  regarding  both  the  means  by  which  these  great 
cities  were  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  permanence  of  their 
ruin,  that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  unprejudiced 
student  can  escape  the  impression  that  the  prophets  were 
supernaturally  guided. 

*  Xenophon,  book  1,  chap.  191. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  369 


CHAPTER   XV. 

RECENT  THEORIES  REGARDING  THE  SUPERNATURAL  AND 

THE  REIGN  OF  LAW EVIDENCE  IN  NATURE  OF  THE 

SUPERNATURAL. 

The  battle  against  the  supernatural  has  been  going  on  long,  and  strong 
men  have  conducted  and  are  conducting  it ;  but  what  they  want  is  a 
weapon.  The  logic  of  unbelief  wants  a  universal.  But  no  real  universal 
is  forthcoming,  and  it  only  wastes  its  strength  in  wielding  a  fictitious  one. 

— THE  REV.  J.  B.  MOZLEY,  B.  D. 

The  careful  study  of  the  Bible  constrains  those  who 
are  not  wedded  to  some  foregone  conclusion,  to  acknowl- 
edge impressions  or  ideas  of  a  supernatural  influence  such 
as  are  created  by  the  perusal  of  no  other  book.  The 
brief  review  which  we  have  taken  of  history  in  its  rela- 
tion to  prophecy,  has  shown  an  enlightening  and  a  con- 
trolling power  which  is  not  recognizable  within  the 
sphere  of  ordinary  records.  But  in  advocating  the  exist- 
ence of  supernatural  influences,  we  have  to  confront  re- 
lentless opposition. 

Animated  by  an  intense  love  of  nature,  and  sensitively 
jealous  of  even  the  slightest  reference  to  the  supernat- 
ural, some  influential  writers  are  not  only  repudiating 
every  agency  which  is  independent  of  physical  tests,  but 
assigning  to  the  laws  of  nature  an  executive  or  adminis- 
trative function.  They  are  investing  them  with  powers 
which  can  only  be  legitimately  connected  with  intelli- 
gence and  purpose  ;  and  the  scorn  with  which  they  repel 


370  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

every  allusion  to  direct  control  by  a  personal  Deity,  is  no 
less  perplexing  than  it  is  saddening.  The  repudiation  of 
the  supernatural  is,  with  them,  axiomatic  ;  they  put  the 
cause  out  of  court ;  they  can  see  in  nature  nothing  more 
than  a  rigidly  regulated  system,  and  they  limit  the  basis 
of  their  philosophy  to  those  forces  and  phenomena  with 
which  alone  physical  science  is  conversant.  They  do 
not  hesitate  to  assert  that  the  Creator  "cannot  be  ima- 
gined as  acting  on  the  line  of  cause  and  effect,  and  that 
even  by  his  own  hand  no  law  can  be  deflected  or  reversed. 
He  has  not  the  liberty  of  acting,  except  within  the  lines 
of  a  fixed  routine ;  and  in  the  moral  government  of  the 
human  race  he  is  without  freedom  of  volition  apart  from 
those  laws  which  keep  in  harmonious  movement  the 
everlasting  machinery  of  the  universe. 

The  enthusiasm  with  which  researches  have  been 
prosecuted  in  physical  science,  has  predisposed  some  to 
originate,  and  many  to  accept  theories,  of  which  nothing 
would  have  been  ever  heard  if  there  had  been  similar 
earnestness  in  the  counterpoise  study  of  metaphysics. 
Opposite  tendencies  would  have  been  balanced,  and  in 
the  peaceful  walks  of  science  and  philosophy  we  should 
not  have  been  meeting  bigotry  and  intolerance  as  nar- 
row, sharp,  and  unrelenting  as  have  ever  confronted  the 
student  of  purely  theological  controversies.  The  conclu- 
sions which  have  found  in  Britain  a  large  measure  of 
sympathy,  if  not  avowed  acceptance,  may  be  best  estima- 
ted through  the  language  of  their  advocates.  A  few 
statements  may  be  sufficiently  historical  and  expository 
not  only  to  induce  a  careful  examination  of  the  tendency 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  371 

of  British  skepticism,  but  to  show  the  probable  effect  of 
those  concessions  which  some  of  our  ablest  Christian 
apologists  are  making  in  the  struggle  to  counteract  its 
progress. 

As  the  late  Rev.  Baden  Powell,  Savilian  Professor  of 
Geometry  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  was  among  the 
first  to  utter,  with  fearless  emphasis,  what  others  were 
holding  "  with  bated  breath,"  and  as  he  expounded  to  the 
youth  of  one  of  the  first  universities  in  the  civilized  world 
convictions  which  were  warmly  welcomed,  we  at  the  out- 
set submit  his  conclusion : 

"  It  is  the  province  of  science  to  investigate  nature ; 
it  can  contemplate  nothing  but  in  connection  with  the 
order  of  nature  ;  it  cannot  point  to  anything  out  of  na- 
ture. The  limits  of  the  study  of  nature  do  not  bring  us 
to  the  confines  of  the  supernatural."*  "  From  the  very 
condition  of  the  case,  it  is  evident  that  the  supernatural 
can  never  be  a  matter  of  science  or  knozvledge ;  for  the 
moment  it  is  brought  within  the  cognizance  of  reason,  it 
ceases  to  be  supernatural.  If  nature  could  really  termi- 
nate anywhere,  then  we  should  not  find  the  szipematural, 
but  a  chaos,  a  blank — total  darkness — anarchy — athe- 
ism."! "  The  supernatural  is  the  offspring  of  ignorance, 
and  the  parent  of  superstition  and  idolatry ;  the  natural 
is  the  assurance  of  science,  and  the  preliminary  to  all 
rational  views  of  Theism. "$ 

Without  carrying  his  demands  so  far  as  to  exclude 
the  supernatural  as  altogether  unreal  or  unimaginable,  ht 
insisted  that  a  "theism  of  omnipotence,  in  any  sense  devi 
*  "The  Order  of  Xature,"  p.  231.       t  Ibid.,  p.  232.       \  Ibid.,  p.  24S. 


372  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ating  from  the  order  of  nature,  must  be  entirely  derived 
from  other  teaching,"  that  is,  from  the  Bible.  While 
asserting  that  "  creation,"  and  the  ideas  we  attach  to  it, 
are  derived  from  the  Scriptures,  and  demanding  that  they 
be  not  confounded  with  those  ideas  which  are  of  purely 
scientific  origin,  he  admitted  their  value,  but  traced  them 
to  faith.  The  school  to  which  he  belonged  has  moved 
considerably  in  advance  of  his  opinions.  Herbert  Spen- 
cer, who  may  be  regarded  as  among  the  foremost  expos- 
itors of  its  present  beliefs,  rejects,  as  utterly  "  unthinka- 
ble "  and  "  unknowable,"  that  which  Baden  Powell,  not- 
withstanding the  fervor  of  his  love  for  physical  science, 
held  fast  as  coming  from  another  source.  The  supernat- 
ural in  its  highest  relations,  Spencer  displaces  and  dis- 
owns as  "  unscrutable,"  and  in  reference  to  the  forms  of 
religion,  he  declares  "  that  no  hypothesis  is  even  think- 
able."* 

The  Deity  is  virtually,  though  not  formally,  excluded  ; 
and  the  supernatural,  in  both  its  relative  and  absolute 
aspects,  is  consequently  repudiated.  What  is  unknow- 
able or  unthinkable  is  equal  to  nothing,  and  the  whole 
system  must  be  ever  destitute  of  emotional  fervor  and 
moral  value.  There  is  nothing  in  it  to  engage  our  sym- 
pathies, sustain  our  hopes,  stimulate  our  services,  and 
develop  brotherly  kindness. 

But  the  principles  of  this  school  demand  logically  a 
much  wider  application  than  British  thinkers  generally 
are  disposed  to  make.  There  is  evidently  no  resting- 
place  short  of  that  which  French  writers  have  taken  and 

*  "  First  Principles,"  p.  46. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  373 

defended ;  but  the  former  shrink  from  it  as  a  course 
whose  inevitable  issue  is  Materialism.  The  boldness  of 
continental  reasoning  sheds  light  on  the  end  to  which 
its  logic  is  guiding  the  disciples  of  that  school ;  and  its 
conclusion  must  be  repudiated  or  accepted. 

"  If  we  do  not  enter  on  this  discussion,"  says  M. 
Havet,  "it  is  from  the  impossibility  of  doing  so  without 
admitting  an  inadmissible  proposition,  namely — the  mere 
possibility  of  the  supernatural.  Our  principle  is  to  hold 
ourselves  constantly  from  the  supernatural — that  is,  from 
the  imagination.  The  dominant  principle  of  all  true  his- 
tory, as  of  all  true  science,  is,  that  that  which  is  not  in 
nature  is  nothing,  unless  as  an  idea."* 

"  Positive  philosophy,"  writes  M.  Littr£,  "  sets  aside 
the  systems  of  theology  which  suppose  supernatural 
action." 

M.  Renan  has  said  with  equal  boldness :  "  For  my- 
self, I  believe  that  there  is  not  in  the  universe  an  intelli- 
gence superior  to  that  of  man  ;  the  absolute  of  justice 
and  reason  manifests  itself  only  in  humanity ;  regarded 
apart  from  humanity,  that  absolute  is  but  an  abstraction. 
The  infinite  exists  only  when  it  clothes  itself  in  form."f 

These  principles  have  been  warmly  welcomed  and 
vindicated  by  some  eminent  physicists  and  metaphysi- 
cians who,  although  prosecuting  different  studies,  and 
adopting  in  some  instances  contradictory  propositions, 
have  shown  in  their  conclusions  remarkable  similarity. 

*  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  August,  1S63. 

t  Quoted   in  Pressense's  "Jesus  Christ:   his  Life  and  Times,"  pp. 
10.  11. 


374  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  Edin- 
burgh, the  dogma,  "  Nature  is  God,"  found  a  willing  advo- 
cate ;  and  even  where  the  avowal  of  the  speculatist  has 
not  been  direct,  his  statements  have  been  sufficiently 
expository  of  the  ideas  that  Law  is  supreme,  and  that  it 
is  fully  adequate  to  the  production  of  all  that  we  can 
discover.  The  writings  of  Darwin,  and  the  "  General 
Conclusions  "  of  Owen,  on  the  side  of  natural  science ; 
the  writings  of  Mill,  Herbert  Spencer,  and  others,  on  the 
side  of  metaphysics  and  ethics,  at  least  in  their  relation 
to  natural  theology  ;  the  historical  expositions  of  Sir  John 
Lubbock  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  uniting  the  physical  and 
the  metaphysical  with  the  social  and  moral ;  and  the 
elaborate  Address  of  Professor  Tyndall,  as  president  of 
the  British  Association,  give  the  mournful  impression, 
notwithstanding  the  surpassing  interest  of  their  reason- 
ings and  their  records,  that  they  are,  unintentionally,  it 
may  be,  yet  ruthlessly,  attempting  to  sever  the  connection 
of  the  human  spirit  with  its  God,  and  to  send  it  forth  a 
cheerless  and  bewildered  wanderer  amid  cold  and  inex- 
orable laws,  with  nothing  in  the  future  which  hope  can 
irradiate,  and  with  no  Being  to  whom  now,  or  hereafter, 
the  heart  can  permanently  cling. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  it  is  true,  as  has  been  already 
noticed,  page  214,  does  pay  a  kind  of  general  homage  to 
religion  when  he  says,  that  it  appeals  so  strongly  to  our 
hopes  and  fears,  and  is  so  great  a  consolation  in  times  of 
sorrow  and  sickness,  that  he  can  hardly  think  any  nation 
would  ever  abandon  it  altogether :  but  of  what  value  it 
can  be  in  the  midst  of  such  natural  processes  as  he  de- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


375 


scribes,  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture.  He  too  heavily  taxes 
our  credulity  when  he  asks  us  to  believe'  that  religion  has 
its  beginning  in  dreams,  and  that  marriage  and  all  other 
social  relations  have  been  slowly  evolved  through  the 
history  of  savage  and  semi-savage  tribes  without,  any 
reference  to  revelation.  His  admissions,  however,  in- 
volve two  facts — the  one,  the  existence  of  a  future  state  ; 
the  other,  the  influence  of  a  supernatural  Being,  to  whose 
service  religion  alone  can  bind  us  ;  without  both  of  which, 
indeed,  religion  is  valueless,  if  not  impossible.  When 
religion  is  acknowledged,  the  attempt  to  escape  from  the 
supernatural  is  vain.  Mill  has  seen  this  difficulty  ;  and, 
to  meet  it,  has  assumed  the  possibility  of  religion  without 
a  Deity.  "  Though  conscious,"  he  says,  "  of  being  an 
extremely  small  minority,  we  venture  to  think  that  a 
religion  may  exist  without  belief  in  God,  and  thai  a  reli- 
gion without  a  God  may  be,  even  to  Christians,  an  in- 
structive and  profitable  object  of  contemplation."* 

Christians,  of  course,  may  profitably  study  religious 
systems  or  beliefs  which  are  without  revelation  for  their 
basis,  and  "without  a  God"  as  their  object  to  adore  and 
obey;  but  there  is  not  a  trace  of  reliable  evidence  to 
prove  the  existence  of  a  religion  with  nothing  higher 
than  the  natural  for  its  basis.  With  the  natural  only  as 
the  source  of  successive  evolutions,  there  can  be  no  un- 
seen sphere  into  which  to  gaze,  nor  higher  and  spiritual 
Being  with  whom  man  may  hold  elevating  intercourse. 
He  is  utterly  isolated  and  unaided.  This  boldly  unphilo- 
sophical  banishment  of  the  supernatural  from  the  domain 

*  "Comte  and  Positivism,"  p.  133. 


376  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

of  both  Reason  and  Faith,  and  the  melancholy  attempt, 
at  the  same  time,  to  retain  a  place  for  religion  and  its 
consolations,  very  clearly  show  the  insecurity  and  in- 
completeness of  that  philosophy  by  which  these  guides 
are  themselves  influenced,  and  by  which,  as  with  a  rod 
of  iron,  they  strive  to  rule  others.  The  severity  with 
which  they  denounce  every  one  who  refuses  to  unite 
with  them  in  rejecting  the  supernatural  even  as  an  idea, 
or  as  an  element  of  tentative  reasoning,  is  absurdly  in- 
consistent with  that  freedom  of  inquiry  which  they  so 
eloquently  claim  for  themselves ;  but  it  is  not  without 
its  gain  to  their  side,  inasmuch  as  it  is  leading  some  ear- 
nest Christian  apologists  to  make  concessions  regarding 
Scripture  principles  which  have  no  warrant  whatever 
from  physical  science.  It  has  become  fashionable  to 
acknowledge  the  reign  of  law  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
reduce  the  "Bible  to  the  level  of  a  somewhat  confused 
and  unreliable  history,  and  to  accept  inferences  which 
are  telling  disastrously  on  multitudes  of  our  young  men 
who  have  little  leisure  for  study.  While  there  has  been 
too  much  assertion  on  the  one  side,  there  has  been  too 
much  concession  on  the  other.  We  propose,  therefore,  in 
the  midst  of  this  confusion,  to  mark  some  positions  which 
Christian  apologists  may  occupy  with  safety,  in  the  hum- 
ble hope  that,  while  some  may  be  dissatisfied  with  our 
suggestions,  others  may  be  aided  by  them. 

On  examining  the  writings  of  those  Christian  apolo- 
gists who  have  of  late  been  discussing  the  relations  of 
the  natural  and  the  supernatural,  we  have  been  perplexed 
by  conflicting  inferences.     As  they  reason  from  widely 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  377 

different  principles,  they  render  it  difficult  to  determine 
where  the  natural  ends  and  the  supernatural  begins  ;  or, 
when  either  has  begun,  how  much  each  embraces.  The 
terms  supernatural  and  superhuman,  while  suitably  ex- 
pressing incidental  distinctions,  have  contributed  to  our 
knowledge  nothing  that  is  essential  and  permanent.  The 
"natural"  has  been  variously  represented:  (1)  It  is  that 
part  of  the  material  universe  which  is  related  to  man,  but 
not  including  him  ;  (2)  it  is  the  visible  universe,  inclu- 
ding man  ;  and  (3)  it  is  the  visible  universe,  including 
not  only  man,  but  also  some  all-pervading,  undefined, 
mysterious  power. 

Principal  M'Cosh,  who  has  rendered  the  highest  ser- 
vice to  philosophy  in  its  Christian  aspects,  has  not  shown 
his  wonted  breadth  and  clearness  in  discussing  the  su- 
pernatural in  relation  to  the  natural.  After  a  careful 
perusal  of  his  work,  it  is  scarcely  possible  <to  say,  with 
any  satisfactory  degree  of  exactness,  what  are  their 
boundary  lines,  or  how  much  the  one  includes,  and  how 
much  the  other.  The  impression  at  one  time  is,  that 
nature  includes  only  the  earth  and  the  system  of  which 
it  is  a  part ;  at  another,  that  it  also  includes  man  ;  at 
another,  that  "  in  nature  there  is  a  Special  Providence? 

The  subject  is  much  complicated  by  his  introducing 
this  last  idea,  as  it  is  itself  connected  with  the  supernat- 
ural. Special  Providence  is,  logically,  suggestive  of  the 
supernatural  rather  than  of  the  natural.  The  confusion 
is  increased  by  the  proposition,  that  "in  nature  there  is 
a  moral  government,"  and  also  by  the  proofs  and  illus- 
trations which  Principal  M'Cosh  gives,  to  the  effect  that 

32* 


378  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

"  God  encourages  the  morally  good,"  and  "  will  in  the 
end  punish  offenders."  To  describe  "special  providence" 
and  "  the  moral  government  of  God  "  as  "  in  the  natural," 
and  as  part  of  it,  is  not  only  in  itself  incongruous,  but  it 
renders  anything  like  a  philosophical  solution  of  this 
problem  much  more  difficult,  if  not  hopelessly  intricate  ; 
for  while  special  providence  works  through  natural  laws, 
it  presupposes  an  hitelligent  overruling  power. 

Similar  difficulties  are  created  by  his  general  remarks 
on  the  supernatural. 

"  We  have  seen,"  he  says,  "  that  in  this  world  there  is 
a  set  of  objects  and  agencies  which  constitute  a  system 
or  cosmos,  which  may  have  relations  to  regions  beyond, 
but  is,  all  the  while,  a  self-contained  sphere,  with  a  space 
around  it — an  island  separated  so  far  from  other  lands. 
This  system  we  call  '  natural.'  The  beings  above  this 
sphere  and  the  agents  beyond  it,  though,  it  may  be,  act- 
ing on  it,  we  call  '  supernatural.'  God,  who  created  the 
cosmical  agencies,  and  set  them  in  operation,  is  himself 
supernatural." 

But  subsequently  he  so  associates  others  with  God,  as 
supernatural,  that  when  any  event  which  would  be  deem- 
ed supernatural  occurs,  it  is  beyond  our  power  to  say 
which  of  these  supernatural  beings  has  been  its  source, 
or  whether  God  himself  has  directly  caused  it,  either 
through  higher  laws  brought  specially  into  action,  or  by 
his  own  will. 

We  are  left  in  the  dark  as  to  how  far  angels  may  of 
themselves  produce  supernatural  occurrences,  and  as  to 
how  many  other  beings  may  have  the  power  of  modifying 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  379 

the  Reign  of  Law,  and  influencing  human  history.  The 
application  of  the  term  supernatural,  like  that  of  the  term 
natural,  is  so  often  shifted  and  so  variously  modified,  that 
we  can  make  little  progress  in  ascertaining  what  is  within 
the  reign  of  law,  and  what  is  beyond  it.  The  obscurity  is 
not  lessened  when  he  writes  of  the  "  supernatural  coming 
into  the  lower  sphere  and  acting  in  unison  with  the  agen- 
cies already  there."  What  supernatural  is  it  ?  God,  or 
other  beings  separate  from  him?  Again,  "the  natural 
does  appear  operating  and  cooperating  with  the  super- 
natural in  not  a  few  of  the  dispensations  of  God."  This 
distinction  between  the  supernatural  and  the  dispensa- 
tions of  God,  it  is  not  easy  to  apprehend.  We  question 
its  reality ;  or,  admitting  its  reality,  whether  it  is  of  the 
least  practical  value  in  this  discussion,  either  with  those 
who  look  exclusively  to  the  reign  of  law  as  the  explana- 
tion of  all  anomalies,  or  with  those  who  advocate  the  di- 
rect reign  of  God. 

Dr.  Bushnell,  in  his  elaborate  and  eloquent  work, 
"  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  defines  nature  to  be 
"  that  created  realm  of  being  or  substance  which  has  an 
acting,  a  going  on,  a  process  from  within  itself,  under 
and  by  its  own  laws."  Limiting  it  to  the  physical  uni- 
verse, he  describes  it  as  "  a  chain  of  causes  and  effects, 
or  a  scheme  of  orderly  succession  determined  from  with- 
in the  scheme  itself."  "That  is  supernatural,"  he  says, 
"whatever  it  be,  that  is  either  not  in  the  chain  of  cause 
and  effect,  or  which  acts  on  the  chain  of  cause  and  effect 
in  nature  from  without  the  chain."  By  this  definition 
man  is  placed  beyond  this  chain  ;  he  acts  on  it,  he  inter- 


380  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

feres  with  its  adjustments,  and  is  therefore  to  be  regard- 
ed as  supernatural.  While  this  is  so  far  true,  it  is  defec- 
tive, as  representing  only  a  part  of  the  system  of  the 
universe.  He  presses  vigorously  the  view  than  man  has 
"  properly  a  supernatural  power,"  that  he  stands  "  out 
clear  and  sovereign  as  a  being  supernatural,"  and  that 
he  is  able  so  to  act  from  without  "  on  the  chain  of  cause 
and  effect,  as  to  produce  results  which  the  laws  of  nature 
would  never  have  produced  but  for  his  interference." 
u  The  very  idea  of  our  personality  is  that  of  a  being  not 
under  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  a  being  supernatural. 
Man  is  an  original  power,  acting  not  in  the  line  of  cau- 
sality, but  from  himself."  In  these  statements  a  principle 
is  assumed,  which,  in  his  use  of  it,  must  be  much  restrict- 
ed ;  for  man  is,  in  his  own  sphere,  in  a  special  sense,  con- 
stantly under  the  law  of  cause  and  effect ;  and  is,  besides, 
subject  to  higher  laws  than  are  those  economies  beneath 
him  which  he  subordinates  to  his  purposes. 

"  The  supernatural,"  he  adds,  "  is  that  range  of  sub- 
stance, if  any  such  there  be,  that  acts  upon  the  chain  of 
cause  and  effect  in  nature  from  without  the  chain,  pro- 
ducing thus  results  that,  by  mere  nature,  could  not  come 
to  pass."* 

This  somewhat  indefinite  "  if  any  such  there  be"  is 
too  flickering  a  light  to  aid  us  reliably  in  traversing  this 
intricate  subject.  "A  range  of  substance,  if  such  there 
be,"  is  expected  to  produce  what  cannot  possibly  be  ac- 
counted for  apart  from  intelligence  and  purpose.  With- 
out that  purpose,  substance  left  to  itself  could  never  so 
*  "  Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  p.  23. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  381 

act  on  substance  as  to  educe  extraordinary  effects,  and 
invest  them  with  permanent  meaning.  Let  effects  break 
out  at  any  time  in  such  a  form  as  to  be  obviously  inde- 
pendent of  ordinary  laws,  and  be  at  the  same  time  moral- 
ly influential  through  their  connection  with  human  his- 
tory, and  they  will  remain  inexplicable,  except  in  relation 
to  the  regulating  will  of  God.  If  we  are  to  comprehend 
aright  the  moral  government  under  which  our  responsi- 
bility is  increasing  as  our  knowledge  of  nature  extends, 
we  must  go  farther  than  to  hidden  laws  and  superior 
agents  behind  the  known  ;  we  must  rise  directly  to  his 
hand  in  whom  all  move  and  have  their  being. 

In  his  "  Reign  of  Law,"  the  Duke  of  Argyll  has,  with 
great  fairness,  tested  the  definitions  and  delineations 
which  Principal  M'Cosh  and  Dr.  Bushnell  have  contribu- 
ted, and  has  himself  presented  valuable  suggestions,  yet 
he  leaves  the  subject  in  somewhat  perplexing  ambiguity. 
While  we  accept  his  assertion  that  "the  reign  of  law  is, 
indeed,  so  far  as  we  can  observe  it,  universal,"  and  that 
"  nature,  in  the  largest  sense,  includes  all  that  is 

" '  In  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air, 

And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man,''  "* 

we  refuse  to  admit  that  law,  in  being  universal,  is  abso- 
lute and  exclusive,  and  that  God  acts  only  in  and  through 
its  agency.  Nor  is  his  view  of  the  supernatural  so  dis- 
tinctly unfolded  as  is  necessary.  His  definitions  are  not 
free  from  the  obscurity  of  which  he  justly  complains  in 
others,  and  he  appears  to  restrict  the  "doings"  of  the 
supernatural  more  than  the  principles  of  Christianity  can 

*  "  Reign  of  Law,"  pp.  4,  11, 


382  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

fairly  admit.  He  touches  the  right  spring,  we  believe, 
when  he  says,  "  By  supernatural  power,  do  we  not  mean 
power  independent  of  the  use  of  means,  as  distinguished 
from  power  depending  on  knowledge — even  infinite 
knowledge — of  the  means  proper  to  be  employed  ?" 
This  power,  independent  of  the  use  of  means,  is  essential 
to  the  idea  of  creation.  Its  origin  is  the  will  of  God. 
He  gave  existence  to  means,  and  then  used  them  for  his 
manifold  purposes.  The  real  difficulty — that  which  many 
say  is  inconceivable — lies,  as  his  grace  states,  "  in  the 
idea  of  will  exercised  without  the  use  of  means — not  in 
the  idea  of  will  exercised  through  means  which  are  be- 
yond our  knowledge  or  beyond  our  reach."  But  we  are 
perplexed  by  the  concession  which  he  makes  in  the  very 
next  sentence :  "  Now,  have  we  any  right  to  say  that  be- 
lief in  this  is  essential  to  all  religion  ?  If  we  have  not, 
then  it  is  only  putting,  as  so  many  other  sayings  do  put, 
additional  difficulties  in  the  way  of  religion."  Belief  in 
this,  that  is,  in  God's  will,  exercised  without  means,  is 
conceivable,  and  though  not  essential  to  all  religions,  it 
is  essential  to  Christianity.  His  grace  assumes  that  the 
Creator  did  first  give  existence  to  the  means,  and  then 
did,  and  now  does,  use  them  for  the  accomplishment  of 
ends.  Will,  then,  must  have  been  exercised  without  the 
use  of  means.  This  he  appears  to  admit  when  he  says, 
"  But  the  very  idea  of  a  Creator  involves  the  idea,  not 
merely  of  a  Being  by  whom  the  properties  of  matter  are 
employed,  but  of  a  Being  from  whose  will  the  properties 
of  matter  are  derived." 

Surely  belief  in  that  is  essential  to  Christianity.     To 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  383 

refuse  this  is  not  only  to  put  additional  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  religion,  but  to  bar  altogether  the  acceptance 
of  Revelation  and  the  Gospel.  He  says  truly,  "  But  those 
who  believe  that  God's  will  does  govern  the  world,  must 
believe  that,  ordinarily  at  least,  he  does  govern  it  by  the 
choice  and  use  of  means,  which  means  were  again  pre- 
established  by  himself."  On  this  there  can  be  no  differ- 
ence of  opinion  ;  God  does  govern  ordinarily  by  the  use 
of  means  ;  there  is  a  reign  of  law,  yet  not  a  blind  despot- 
ism of  force.  But  in  the  next  sentence  his  grace  requires 
a  concession  which  we  cannot  possibly  make,  when  he 
says,  "  Nor  have  we  any  certain  reason  to  believe  that 
he  ever  acts  otherwise."  He  has  acted  otherwise  in 
creation,  and  what  has  been  may  be  again.  We  should 
be  sorry  to  misinterpret  the  views  of  one  v/hose  contri- 
butions in  many  respects  we  greatly  value  and  admire, 
but  we  do  think  that  he  makes  concessions  which  neu- 
tralize much  of  his  best  reasoning.  If  he  fails  anywhere, 
it  is  in  discussing  these  fundamental  principles.  In  a 
footnote  in  the  fifth  edition  of  his  "  Reign  of  Law,"  he 
accepts  as  satisfactory  Mr.  Lecky's  reference  to  his  views, 
as  conveying  "  a  notion  of  a  miracle  which  would  not 
differ  genetically  from  a  human  act,  though  it  would  still 
be  strictly  available  for  evidential  purposes  ;"  but  in  ac- 
cepting this  restricted  use  of  a  miracle,  he  enunciates  a 
principle  which  must  hamper  and  enfeeble  all  his  reason- 
ing, in  reference  not  only  to  the  supernatural,  but  to 
Christianity  itself.  "Beyond  the  immediate  purposes  of 
benevolence,"  he  says,  "which  were  served  by  almost  all 
the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  the  only  other  pur- 


384  BLENDING  LIGHTS, 

pose  which  is  ever  assigned  to  them  is  an  '  evidential 
purpose,'  that  is,  a  purpose  that  might  serve  as  signs  of 
the  presence  of  superhuman  knowledge,  and  of  the  work- 
ing of  superhuman  power.  They  were  performed  in 
short,  to  assist  faith,  and  not  to  confound  reason." 

It  is  strange  to  find  one  so  acute  in  discriminating 
principles,  and  so  comprehensive  in  reasoning,  restricting 
the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  to  merely  evidential 
purposes  ;  they  serve  that  end,  it  is  true,  but  in  their 
profoundest  connections  they  are  more  than  evidential, 
they  are  eminently  doctrinal.  "  The  facts  of  Christianity," 
says  Archdeacon  Lee,  "  are  represented  by  some  as  form- 
ing no  part  of  its  essential  doctrines ;  they  rank,  it  is 
argued,  no  higher  than  its  external  accessories.  It  is  im- 
possible to  maintain  this  distinction."  And  Professor 
Bannerman,  in  his  work  on  Inspiration,  also  refuses  to 
separate  the  miracles  from  the  dogmatic  teaching  of 
Scripture  ;  for  they  are,  as  he  believes,  to  a  large  extent 
identical.  "  In  many  cases,"  he  adds,  "  the  miracles  are 
nothing  but  doctrines  rendered  into  facts,  and  the  doc- 
trines only  miracles  interpreted  into  truths." 

I.  THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  SUPERNATURAL  TO  THE  NATURAL. 

In  determining  the  mutual  relations  of  the  super- 
natural and  the  natural,  we  must  extend  the  sphere  of 
the  natural  beyond  that  to  which  it  has  been  limited,  and 
endeavor  to  simplify  the  ideas  prevalent  as  to  miraculous 
agency.  With  much  diffidence  we  follow  the  distin- 
guished writers  to  whom  reference  has  been  so  freely 
made  ;  but  the   difficulties   which   remain  are  such,  that, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  385 

notwithstanding  all  their  concessions,  and  in  large  meas- 
ure because  of  them,  the  whole  subject  needs  reconsider- 
ation. Eager  and  ingenuous  inquirers,  especially  among 
young  men,  pausing  at  almost  every  step,  have  found  ap- 
parent contradictions  in  some  of  their  definite  proposi- 
tions, and  they  are  refusing  to  accept  statements  which 
have  left  vitally  important  questions  in  even  greater  ob- 
scurity than  before.  We  enter  on  this  part  of  the  dis- 
cussion cherishing  the  hope  that,  if  we  fail  to  satisfy  the 
philosophic  inquirer  on  the  side  of  Christianity,  others 
more  competent  may  undertake  the  task  of  exposition 
when  they  observe  the  special  questions  which  continue 
to  tax  the  reason  and  the  faith  of  many  thoughtful  stu- 
dents. 

1.   The  Natural:  Its  Extent. 

Nature  not  only  includes  all  that  is  in  the  physical  uni- 
verse, at  least  in  so  far  as  it  influences  man,  or  may  be 
known  by  him,  but  is  expressive,  in  the  widest  sense,  of 
all  that  is,  as  having  come  forth  to  be  by  the  will  of  the 
Creator.  Creation  and  the  "  natural"  are  synonymous 
or  coequal,  as  now  existent.  Their  origin  is  super- 
natural. There  is  nothing  in  nature  to  shew  self-origi- 
nation. It  could  not  of  its  own  accord  begin  to  be.  All 
that  is  now  natural  was,  in  the  beginning,  the  result  of 
divine  power.  The  will  of  God,  omnipotent,  sovereign, 
and  inscrutable,  is  its  source  and  stay. 

Some,  restricting  nature  to  what  is  material,  cannot 
escape  from  the  trammels  of  a  purely  physical  philosophy ; 
while  others,  fixing  exclusive  regard  on  psychological 
truth,  as  having  a  reality  and  a  certainty  of  at  least  as 

33 


3S6  BLEXDIXG  LIGHTS. 

much  consequence  as  "the  laws  of  the  planetary  motions 
and  chemical  affinities,"  hasten  to  the  opposite  extreme, 
and  demand  acknowledgment  of  the  facts  of  their  science 
as  the  only  worthy  foundation  of  philosophy  and  natural 
theology.  Both  err.  In  excluding  either  the  one  or  the 
other,  they  act  unnaturally  ;  they  divide  what  God  has 
joined  in  man,  a  body  connecting  him  with  the  physical, 
and  a  soul  connecting  him  with  the  spiritual.  The  fact  of  a 
spiritual  nature  in  man  is  presumptive  evidence  of  a  spir- 
itual universe  around  him  of  which  he  is  part,  and  the 
spiritual  and  the  natural  may  be  alike  natural.  Philoso- 
phy and  natural  theology  must  recognize  both,  because 
they  really  rest  on  both  mental  and  material  principles, 
psychology  as  well  as  physics.  This  view  is  so  far  held 
by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  when  he  "  takes  the  natural  in  that 
large  and  wider  sense  in  which  it  contains  within  it  the 
whole  phenomena  of  man's  intellectual  and  spiritual  na- 
ture as  part,  and  the  most  familiar  of  all  parts,  of  the 
visible  system  of  things."  That  is  the  limit  which  he 
reaches,  but  we  go  farther,  for  ethics  cannot  be  excluded. 
The  distinction  to  which  Lord  Brougham  attempted  to 
give  permanent  prominence  between  Ontology,  or  the 
science  of  what  is,  and  Deontology,  or  the  science  of 
what  ought  to  be,  cannot  be  rigidly  maintained  here. 
The  two  sciences  intermingle.  The  what  is,  for  instance, 
in  our  physical  condition,  teaches  what  ought  to  be  in  re- 
gard to  health,  and  has  not  only  sanitary,  but  moral, 
obligations.  Besides,  conscience  is  part  of  what  is  ;  its 
existence  is  universally  acknowledged  ;  as  a  fact  it  has 
its  place  in  ontology,  but  in  function   and  influence  it 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  387 

passes  into  the  domain  of  deontology,  or  what  ought  to 
be.  It  regulates  conduct,  it  invests  with  responsibility, 
it  is  a  determining  power,  not  only  in  individual  life,  but 
in  national  history  ;  it  is  the  basis  of  religion,  and  pre- 
pares man  for  Revelation. 

Nor  can  we  rest  here.  Philosophically,  the  natural 
must  also  embrace  those  higher  rational  or  spiritual  be- 
ings who  have  been  created,  and  who  in  the  divine  gov- 
ernment are  related  to  Man.  Analogy  in  the  visible, 
guiding  us  from  lower  to  higher  forms  of  life,  and  from 
the  higher  to  the  highest,  Man,  warrants  our  moving 
upwards  through  a  still  higher  series  in  the  invisible. 
Analogy  forbids  the  arrest  of  our  course  when  we  are 
passing  from  the  intellectual  in  man  to  the  confines  of  the 
spiritual  in  the  unseen  ;  and  we  cannot  stop  on  this 
threshold  without  doing  violence  to  the  first  principles  of 
scientific  investigation.  What  analogy  has  indicated,  the 
Scriptures  directly  attest.  This  statement  may,  of  course, 
be  ridiculed  by  the  physicist,  but  the  philosopher  who 
has  any  confidence  in  the  lessons  of  analogy  will  admit 
the  probability  of  other  and  higher  existences  ;  and 
to  the  Christian  who  has  faith  in  the  Bible  it  is  matter 
of  certainty.  "For  by  Him,"  the  Son  of  God,  "were  all 
things  created  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth, 
visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  domin- 
ions, or  principalities,  or  powers."  Col.  1  :  16.  The  idea 
of  an  ascending  series  of  rational  and  moral  beings  is 
familiar  to  every  student  of  the  Bible.  And  is  it  not 
illogical  on  the  part  of  the  mere  physicist  to  be  making 
perpetual  reference  to  "  higher  laws"  and  "  hidden  laws," 


3S8  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

and  to  ''subtle  or  mysterious  forces  yet  unknown,"  on  his 
own  side  of  the  question,  while  he  denounces  as  "  mere 
imagination"  or  "superstition"  all  references  on  the  oth- 
er side  to  those  higher,  hidden,  and  mysterious  beings  to 
whom  analogy  directs  us,  and  whom  the  Bible  describes 
as  "  ministering  spirits,"  as  "  heavenly  hosts"  ?  Is  it  not 
really  more  unphilosophical  to  deny  than  to  admit  the 
existence  of  "  higher  spiritual  beings  than  man"  ?  Is  it 
not  more  one-sided  and  less  harmonious  with  our  convic- 
tions to  impose  such  a  limit  ?  As  man  is  connected  with 
all  life  below  him,  is  he  not  also  connected  with  all  life 
and  intelligence  above  him  ? 

Such  an  extending  of  the  sphere  of  the  natural,  ren- 
ders easier  of  solution,  we  think,  some  of  the  more  press- 
ing problems  regarding  the  relations  of  law  to  the  super- 
natural. 

2.   The  Supernatural. 

What  is  the  supernatural  ?  Where  does  it  begin  ? 
What  sphere  does  it  fill  ?  How  give  it  a  definite  charac- 
ter ?     What  is  the  source  of  its  power  ? 

The  supernatural,  we  believe,  can  have  no  moral 
value  to  man  except  in  its  direct  connection  with  the 
will  of  God.  Apart,  indeed,  from  such  connection,  the 
supernatural,  about  which  so  much  has  of  late  been  writ- 
ten, is  nothing  more  than  the  natural ;  and  although  the 
distinction  may  be  serviceable,  it  can  relieve  the  mind  of 
no  anxiety ;  it  explains  nothing.  What  we  understand 
and  what  we  cannot  fully  comprehend,  may  be  thus  sep- 
arated by  appropriate  terms,  but  both  are  natural,  as  de- 
pendent on  the  creational  and  the  governing  power  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  389 

God.  We  acknowledge  the  reign  of  law  everywhere  as 
fully  as  any  one  can  describe  it ;  we  admit  its  prevalence 
above,  around,  beneath  ;  but  we  deny  its  absoluteness. 
It  has  vast  sway,  but  still  it  is  a  subject.  When  such 
occurrences  have  to  be  explained,  as  iron  swimming, 
when  naturally  it  should  sink,  the  mere  reference  to 
supernatural  agencies  or  hidden  laws  explains  nothing : 
it  leaves  us  gazing  in  very  helplessness  into  the  dark.  Be 
it  that  there  is  some  hidden  law  which  produced  that 
effect,  how  came  it  to  work  at  that  juncture,  and  at  no 
other  ?  Can  any  certain  footing  be  gained  until  we  refer 
the  process  and  the  result  to  the  sovereign  will  of  the 
great  Ruler  ;  or  can  any  adequate  solution  of  the  super- 
natural be  found  but  in  his  wisdom  and  power  ? 

WThile  we  gladly  acknowledge  the  aid  which  the  Scrip- 
tures bring,  it  is  only  in  the  way  of  confirming  a  conclu- 
sion otherwise  reached.  To  this  course  objections  have 
been  raised ;  it  is  not  fair,  they  allege,  to  begin  the  study 
of  natural  theology  with  the  Bible  in  our  hand,  or  to  em- 
ploy its  light  in  speculations  as  to  supernatural  agencies  ; 
but  this  objection  has  been  fully  disposed  of,  we  think, 
by  the  late  Archbishop  Whately  in  one  of  his  letters  to 
Baden  Powell. 

"It  is  enough,"  he  says,  "if  you  can  establish  it  as  a 

strong  probability  that  there  may  be  a  God,  and  that  not 

such  as  we  call   God — the   Author  of    all  things — but 

simply  an   unseen,  intelligent   Being,   exercising  power 

over  the  world.     And  when  it  is  admitted  that  there  may 

be  such  a  Being,  there  is  no  absurdity  in  proceeding  to 

inquire  what  proofs  there  are  of  His  having  directly 

33* 


390  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

communicated  with  man.  When  this  is  established,  we 
may  justly  infer  from  such  his  revelation,  his  having 
probably  done  so  and  so,  and  being  so  and  so,  of  which 
again  we  may  find  confirmation  by  inspecting  more  close- 
ly the  other  volume — the  Created  Universe."* 

This  appears  to  be  a  use  of  Scripture  so  perfectly 
fair,  that  we  claim  its  aid  in  the  same  way  and  to  the 
same  extent,  and  accept  its  teaching  as  confirming  the 
lessons  of  analogy. 

Those  who  insist  on  "the  grand  truth  of  the  universal 
order  and  constancy  of  natural  causes  as  a  primary  law 
of  belief,  and  as  so  strongly  entertained  and  fixed  in  the 
mind  of  every  truly  inductive  inquirer  that  he  cannot 
even  conceive  the  possibility  of  its  failure,"  and  who 
assert  that  any  results  different  from  this  established 
order  are  "  inconceivable  to  reason,"  must  prove  two 
things ;  first,  that  this  primary  law  of  belief  renders  it 
impossible  to  have  intuitional  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
supernatural ;  and  second,  that  there  is  no  evidence 
whatever  in  the  natural  to  train  or  guide  the  mind  to  any 
legitimate  conception  of  a  Being  above  all  nature. 

In  both  they  fail,  and  in  both  the  Christian  student 
finds  support.  Why  should  such  results  be  inconceivable 
to  reason?  No  evidence  has  ever  been  adduced  to  show 
that  we  are  intellectually  incompetent  to  reach  or  receive 
the  idea  of  a  supernatural  Being,  or  that  the  idea  is  itself 
an  outrage  on  any  one  of  our  intuitions.  Principal 
M'Cosh  has  conclusively  shown  that  our  intuitions  do 
not  in  the  least  sanction  the  conclusion  that  "  nature  has 

*  "Life  of  Archbishop  Whately,"  p.  148.     Edition  in  one  volume. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  391 

nothing  but  physical  or  mundane  law  ;"  and  he  has  shown 
that  they  are  neither  inconsistent  with  a  miracle  nor  vio- 
lated by  its  history.*  Our  intuitions  do  not  rigorously 
limit  to  natural  agencies  alone  the  causes  of  the  effects 
which  we  examine,  when  they  may  possibly  have  a  divine 
origin.  The  very  evidence  which  leads  us  to  recognize 
uniformity  in  nature,  fosters,  if  it  does  not  create  the 
conviction,  that  there  is  a  higher  power  at  work  than  the 
natural  exhibits.  The  assertion  that  "  faith  in  the  super- 
natural is  the  essence  of  all  unreason,"  does  violence  to 
our  intuitions.  It  sets  aside  a  primary  law  of  belief.  The 
idea  of  the  supernatural  is  not  foreign  to  man  ;  its  prev- 
alence is  universal.  To  disown  it  is  unphilosophical. 
The  history  of  our  race  is  its  vindication. 

"  You  may  interrogate  the  human  race,"  says  Guizot, 
"  in  all  times  and  in  all  places,  in  all  states  of  society  and 
in  all  grades  of  civilization,  and  you  will  find  them  every- 
where, and  always,  believing  in  facts  and  causes  beyond 
this  sensible  world  called  nature."! 

Although  Sir  John  Lubbock  and  others  have  given 
their  decision  against  the  universal  prevalence  of  a  reli- 
gious sentiment,  the  general  opinion  is  opposed  to  their 
inference.  All  known  races,  savage  and  civilized,  are 
connected  by  the  idea  of  the  supernatural  in  some  one 
form  or  other,  and  by  some  religious  customs  or  habits, 
however  vague  or  contradictory. 

*  "  The  Supernatural,"  etc.,  p.  41.     See  also  "  Christianity  and  Posi- 
tivism." 

t  "  Meditations  sur  la  Religion,"  p.  95. 


392  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

II.    EVIDENCE  IN  NATURE  OF  THE  SUPERNATURAL. 

The  rigid  exclusion  of  the  very  idea  of  the  supernat- 
ural, is  unjustifiable.  Its  banishment  does  not  harmonize 
with  the  tendencies  and  the  guidance  of  nature,  for  we 
are  trained  to  the  idea  by  the  economies  which  surround 
us.  Not  by  intuition  only,  nor  by  human  history  alone, 
with  its  universal  beliefs,  but  by  the  structure  of  the 
earth  also,  and  by  an  ascending  series  of  manifestations, 
are  we  constrained  to  look  to  the  supernatural.  In  the 
facts  of  science  is  the  basis  of  our  argument,  and  their 
relations  may  be  briefly  described. 

I.  In  the  inorganic  fabric  of  our  globe  there  is  indi- 
rect yet  impressive  evidence  of  a  power  which  has  been 
at  work  beyond  all  that  physical  tests  can  touch.  In  the 
disposition  and  distribution  of  the  materials  which  sur- 
round us  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  design.  The 
superposition  and  the  arrangements  of  the  rocks  and  the 
metals,  represent  through  long  antecedent  ages  such  ob- 
vious regard  to  the  future  constitution  of  man,  that  we 
cannot  connect  such  a  wonderful  series  of  facts  with  the 
blind  action  of  unintelligent  law  without  doing  violence 
to  reason.  No  law  has  ever  been  even  remotely  indicated 
which  would  determine  the  place,  the  thickness,  and  the 
very  texture  of  succeeding  strata,  or  which  would  explain 
how  the  silver,  the  gold,  the  lime,  the  iron,  and  the  coal, 
are  so  accessible  to  man,  and  therefore  so  promotive  of 
civilization.  In  the  disposition  of  the  constituents  of  the 
oldest  rocks,  there  is  exhibited  a  minuteness  of  care,  as 
well  as  a  vastness  of  prophetic  preparation,  for  which 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  393 

natural  laws  have  indicated  no  explanation.  How  came 
all  those  inorganic  substances,  those  indispensable  ele- 
ments without  which  plants  perish,  to  be  so  stored  up, 
and  to  be  so  related  to  future  agencies,  that  they  give 
forth  sparingly  in  their  season,  those  nicely-balanced 
quantities  which  clothe  the  earth  with  green,  enamel  it 
with  flovveis,  and  enrich  it  with  fruit  ?  By  what  process 
of  selection  have  the  rocks  established  within  themselves 
that  delicately-varied  texture  which,  with  marvellous  pre- 
cision, yields  to  the  sunshine,  and  the  dew  and  the  storm 
and  other  wasting  influences,  those  homoeopathic  sup- 
plies which  plants  separately  and  unconsciously  require  ? 
Can  this  singular  storage,  long  ages  ago,  of  food  for 
future  plants,  have  been  no  more  than  the  chance  result 
of  materials  in  chaos  striving  for  the  mastery  ?  No 
power  in  nature  has  been  pointed  out  as  possibly  leading 
to  these  marvellous  allocations.  They  are  commensurate 
with  our  globe,  and  they  compel  us  to  look  away  from 
themselves  for  an  explanation  of  their  order.  Our  first 
step  in  physical  inquiry  thus  brings  us  into  the  presence 
of  what  is  supernatural,  unless  we  are  contented  to  sit 
shrouded  in  mysteries,  which  may  be,  at  least  in  part, 
removed. 

2.  As  we  proceed,  another  fact  presents  itself  which 
natural  law  cannot  explain.  Not  produced  in  any  form 
by  the  harmonious  preparations  above  referred  to,  but 
depending  on  them,  and  so  acting  on  the  substances  pro- 
vided as  to  turn  them  to  uses  not  within  the  range  of  in- 
organic matter  alone — is  Plant-life.  Whence  is  it  ?  How 
has  it  appeared  ?     No  facts  have  been  yet  discovered 


394  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

which  "help  us  even  in  imagination  to  bridge  the  chasm 
from  the  nonliving  to  the  living."*  It  is  a  result  beyond 
physical  law.  Mark  how  it  acts.  Vital  force  overcomes 
the  law  of  gravitation,  and  while  it  uses  chemical  combi- 
nations, is  in  origin  independent  of  them.  To  all  intents 
and  purposes,  plant-life  is,  in  relation  to  the  inorganic 
world,  miraculous  or  supernatural.  Higher  laws  are 
framed  which  suspend  or  modify  chemical  and  mechani- 
cal forces.  All  that  chemistry  has  achieved  amid  trans- 
formations which  often  startle,  and  always  instruct  us, 
has  failed  to  organize  a  single  form  in  which  life  may 
take  up  its  abode.  Life  makes  its  own  form,  and  plies 
its  own  force.  Plant-life  was  a  new  thing  in  our  world. 
It  came  into  or  upon  it,  supernatural ly,  not  from  it. 

3.  By  another  step  we  are  brought  to  a  new  economy, 
that  of  animal-life,  not  educed,  but  supervened.  Although 
animals  and  plants  are  more  closely  related  than  are 
plants  and  the  soil,  yet  they  are  essentially  distinct. 
While  there  are  intermediate  or  apparently  transitional 
forms  between  plants  and  animals,  there  is,  as  Professor 
Huxley  admits,  a  great  difference  in  these  two  divisions 
of  lower  life  "of  which  nothing  is  at  present  known." 
Science  has  not  connected  them,  nor  is  it  likely  that  it 
ever  will.  While  plants  draw  their  nourishment  from 
the  inorganic,  animals  cannot ;  they  live  on  the  organic ; 
they  utilize  the  materials  which  plants  elaborate  ;  they 
educe  results  altogether  beyond  the  vegetable  economy  ; 
and  they  modify  its  laws  to  new  ends — to  ends  which,  in 

*  "  Protoplasm ;  or,  Matter  and  Life."     By  Dr.  L.  S.  Beale,  p.  377. 
Third  Edition. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  395 

so  far  as  plant  power  is  involved,  are  supernatural.  That 
"  life  can  come  only  from  life"  has  been  generally  accept- 
ed as  an  established  truth.  We  anticipate  the  vindica- 
tion of  a  still  more  definite  truth — that  plant-life  can 
come  only  from  plant-life,  and  animal-life  only  from 
animal-life.  Meantime,  the  question  of  spontaneous 
generation  has  been  so  far  settled  by  the  experiments  of 
M.  Pasteur,*  that  we  cannot  accept,  at  this  stage  of  the 
discussion,  from  any  less  skilful  analyst,  mere  elaborate 
theories  as  against  his  conclusions  or  results. 

4.  Again,  and  higher,  we  have  Man  associated  in 
physical  conformation  with  the  lower  animals,  yet  pos- 
sessed of  qualities  peculiar  to  himself.  Between  man 
and  the  lower  animals,  near  as  they  approach  each  other 
in  some  respects,  there  is  a  chasm  which  the  utmost 
ingenuity  has  failed  to  bridge  or  fill.  Neither  Geology 
nor  Travels  have  produced  facts  which  accord  with  the 
reasoning  of  the  derivationists.  On  their  theory,  man's 
origin  should  be  traced  to  some  region  where  he  is  most 
debased,  and  where,  consequently,  survival  is,  at  first, 
most  precarious.  But  "  it  is  absurd,"  as  Principal  Dawson 
has  justly  observed,  "  to  affirm  of  any  species  of  animal 
or  plant  that  it  must  have  originated  at  the  limits  of  its 
range,  where  it  can  scarcely  survive  at  all."f  Much 
more  natural  is  it  to  suppose  that  Man's  career  did  not 
commence  at  the  extreme  verge  of  possible  existence. 
Even  in  those  regions  in  which  the  apes  nearest  man 
*  See  p.  56. 

f  See  Principal  Dawson's  admirable  work,  "The  Story  of  the  Earth 
and  Man,"  chapter  15. 


396  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

are  most  fully  developed,  the  conditions  of  his  existence 
are  such  as  to  render  very  improbable  the  supposition 
that  man  is  descended  from  them.  But  decidedly  posi- 
tive testimony,  as  well  as  merely  negative  reasoning,  is 
confirming  the  Scripture  statements  as  to  man's  separate 
origin.  Mr.  Wallace  has  displaced  Mr.  Darwin's  conclu- 
sions by  demonstrating  the  "  insufficiency  of  natural  selec- 
tion" to  account  for  the  development  of  man's  brain,  his 
soft,  naked,  and  sensitive  skin,  the  structure  of  his  foot 
and  hand,  and  the  conformation  of  his  organs  of  speech  ; 
and  it  has  been  frankly  admitted  by  such  as  Professor 
Huxley,  that  man  is  immeasurably  separated  from  the 
highest  of  the  lower  animals  by  his  intellectual  and 
moral  nature.  Professor  Tyndall  has  ignored  these  con- 
clusions and  asserted  that  he  discerns  "  in  matter  the 
promise  and  potency  of  all  terrestrial  life,"*  that  "  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution"  which  he  accepts  "  derives  man,  in  his 
totality,  from  the  interaction  of  organism  and  environ- 
ment through  countless  ages  past,"f  and  in  particular,  that 
"  the  human  understanding  is  itself  the  result  of  play 
between  organism  and  environment  through  cosmic 
ranges  of  time."f  These  assertions,  as  made  by  a  presi- 
dent of  the  British  Association  claim  respectful  attention  ; 
but,  when  it  is  found  that  inferences  only,  not  facts,  are 
adduced  to  support  them,  in  the  interests  not  of  theology 
but  of  science,  we  reject  them.     While  evolution  reduces 

*  Authorized  Report  of  the  Forty-fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Brit- 
ish Associntion  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  held  at  Belfast  in  August, 
1S74,  page  xcii. 

t  Ibid  p.  xciv. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  397 

man  "in  his  totality"  to  a  merely  material  fabric  it 
utterly  fails  to  account  for  the  facts  of  human  life,  in 
their  manifold  relations,  intellectual,  moral  and  religious. 
Man,  made  capable  of  looking  "  to  the  Unseen  and 
Eternal,"  cherishes  the  distinctive  idea  of  immortality. 
His  intellect,  with  its  power  of  comparing  ;  his  reason, 
with  its  grasp  to  generalize  ;  his  imagination,  with  its 
faculty  to  invent  and  combine  ;  his  conscience,  with  its 
recognition  of  right  and  wrong ;  his  memory,  with  its 
power  of  reproducing  the  past;  and  his  conceptions  of 
responsibility,  obligation,  virtue,  and  the  sanctions  of 
law — connect  him  with  an  economy  which  is  utterly 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  lower  animals.  In  his  intellec- 
tual, moral,  and  spiritual  nature  he  is  supernatural  to  all 
beneath  and  around  him.  The  germs  of  this  highest 
moral  nature  cannot  be  found  in  either  inorganic  masses 
or  in  the  life-forms  which  abound  beneath  his  sway. 

5.  And  must  we  stop  here  ?  Is  Man  the  first  and 
last  of  rational  and  responsible  beings  ?  Does  the  human 
race  exhaust  the  range  of  intellectual  and  moral  existence? 
Are  there  no  higher  beings  in  wider  spheres,  and  subject 
to  other  laws  than  those  which  are  known  to  us  ?  Does 
not  the  finger  of  analogy  point  upward  ?  And  does  not 
the  Bible  assure  us  that  the  inference  is  legitimate  which 
sheds  light  on  higher  ranks  of  moral  beings — angel, 
archangel,  and  seraph  ? 

To  examine  the  connections  or  minuter  relations  of 
the  series  of  economies  of  which  we  form  a  part,  is 
unnecessary.  All  that  we  insist  on  is,  that  by  an  ascend- 
ing  series  nature  does    train  the  inquirer  to  the  idea 

34 


398  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

of  the  supernatural.  The  idea  is  not  merely  admissible, 
but  necessary,  and  its  repudiation  is  unjustifiable.  Let 
us  not  be  understood  as  claiming  the  acknowledgment 
of  a  frequent  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Creator  and 
Preserver  with  the  laws  which  he  has  established.  They 
fulfil  their  function  in  a  twofold  capacity :  they  act  accor- 
ding to  their  special  destiny,  and  also  in  accordance  with 
those  demands  which  are  made  on  them  by  a  higher  and 
subordinating  economy.  It  is  in  that  sense  we  hold  the 
one  economy  to  be  supernatural  to  the  other — plant-life 
to  the  inorganic,  animal-life  to  plant-life,  and  man  to  both. 
Enough  has  been  said,  not  only  to  prove  the  legitimacy 
of  the  idea,  but  to  show  that  its  exclusion  is  unscientific. 
To  assert  that  the  supernatural  is  "inconceivable,"  or  is 
"  the  essence  of  all  unreason,"  does  violence  to  the  facts 
of  nature  and  their  logical  interpretation. 

The  bitterness  with  which  the  idea  of  the  supernatural 
is  hunted  down,  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  undue 
influence  which  any  single  department  of  study,  without 
its  counterpoise,  may  exert  over  even  the  keenest  and 
most  powerful  intellect.  While  all  creation,  visible  and 
invisible,  may  be  regarded  comprehensively  as  "the 
natural"  under  the  control  of  God,  we  are  warranted  in 
describing  as  a  "supernatural"  result  each  higher  econ- 
omy in  the  ascending  series  which  could  not  have  been 
originated  by  that  beneath  it.  That  power  which  con- 
trols the  subordinate,  as  the  vital  force  in  the  plant  con- 
trols the  inorganic  elements  around  it,  is  in  its  action 
relatively  supernatural,  but  in  origin  it  is  absolutely 
supernatural.     The  two  ideas  are   harmonious,  though 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  399 

distinct.  The  relatively  supernatural  becomes  the  natural 
beneath  the  next  higher  economy  in  the  ascending  series. 
The  plant  economy,  supernatural  relatively  to  the  in- 
organic fabric,  becomes  natural  relatively  to  the  animal 
economy ;  and  so  on,  upward  through  all  stages  and 
ranks,  until  we  reach  the  great  source  of  order  and  life — 
the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigning. 

But  to  acknowledge  the  reign  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
does  not  necessarily  displace  the  reign  of  Law.  Law  has 
its  sphere.  It  is  universal ;  but  not  absolute.  This  is 
not  a  new  discovery ;  it  is  a  truth  shining  with  as  much 
clearness  in  every  page  of  Scripture  as  in  the  "  Principia" 
of  Newton.  Regarding  this  principle,  both  Science  and 
Scripture  are  at  one ;  the  difference  lies  in  the  variety 
and  extent  of  its  applications — a  difference  always  de- 
pendent on  the  progress  of  scientific  discovery.  But 
while  we  acknowledge  the  prevalence  of  natural  law,  and 
admit  that  hidden  laws  may  be  applied  by  higher  beings 
to  produce  what  to  us  are  supernatural  results,  we  cannot, 
in  homage  to  an  imperfect  philosophy,  dissociate  the 
Lawgiver  from  the  works  and  the  laws  which  he  has 
framed. 

While  admitting  that  the  Divine  Government  pro- 
ceeds ordinarily  by  the  use  of  natural  agencies,  we  are 
justified  in  firmly  refusing  the  statement  already  advert- 
ed to,  "that  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  God 
ever  acts  otherwise,"  because  the  facts  of  science,  as  well 
as  the  intimations  of  Scripture,  reveal  actions  without 
means.  To  institute  means  originally,  is  itself  evidence 
of  acting  without  means.     To  establish  laws,  is  proof  of 


4oo  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

work  without  laws.  The  reign  of  law  is  not  self-origina- 
ted. God  began  it,  and  his  Will  must  be  the  rule  of  its 
continuance.  Proof  is  accumulating.  Natural  Philoso- 
phy has  already  demonstrated  that  the  present  cosmical 
system  has  not  been  eternal — that  it  began  to  be,  and 
that  it  is  passing  on  to  change  and  overthrow,  unless 
some  power,  not  now  acting,  interpose.  Geology  has 
proved  that  there  has  been  a  commencement  to  our  rock 
structure,  and  Biology  has  also  attested  for  Life  a  begin- 
ning that  is  supernatural  to  all  that  previously  existed. 
We  are  therefore  justified  in  assuming  that  there  are 
results  without  self-originating  means  ;  and  it  does  no 
such  violence  to  our  intuitions  and  our  reason  to  connect 
them  with  the  sovereign  Will  of  God,  as  it  does  to  throw 
back  the  beginning  of  all  things  into  the  mists  of  a  meas- 
ureless eternity,  and  to  assert  that  explanation  is  "  incon- 
ceivable." 

Throughout  the  "  Natural,"  in  the  fullest  extent  which 
may  be  claimed  for  it,  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the 
introduction  of  Super  natural  influence;  and  if  Christi- 
anity is  indeed  a  system  from  the  same  hand  which 
framed  the  heavens,  it  would  not  be  in  harmony  with 
the  facts  which  appear  in  the  lower  economies,  if  the 
manifestations  of  a  supernatural  presence  in  it  were  not 
at  least  equally  distinct. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  401 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

EVIDENCE  OF  THE  SUPERNATURAL  IN  CHRISTIANITY — RE- 
SULTS IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIANITY  —  CONCLU- 
SION. 

The  truth  which  really  and  only  accounts  for  the  establishment  in  this 
our  human  world  of  such  a  religion- as  Christianity,  and  of  such  an  insti- 
tution as  the  Church,  is  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  was  believed  to  be 
more  than  man,  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  what  men  believed  him  to 
be,  the  truth  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God. — canon  liddon. 

Having  tested  the  historical  statements  in  Scripture 
by  evidence  in  other  records,  having  noticed  the  peculi- 
arity with  which  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment  have  invest- 
ed the  Bible,  and  having  traced  in  the  "  Natural "  the 
mysterious  tokens  of  a  Power  working  in  sovereignty 
behind  its  economies,  we  cannot  escape  the  impression 
that  the  same  Being  who  hath  introduced  into  the  physi- 
cal world  new  conditions  of  structure  and  life,  and  into 
mental  history  those  ideas  which  strangely  or  superb. u- 
manly  represented  future  facts,  centuries  before  their 
realization,  hath  also  placed  in  the  higher  world — the 
Mental,  the  Moral,  and  the  Spiritual — those  historical 
facts,  those  miraculous  changes,  and  those  doctrinal 
truths  which  lay  beyond  the  reach  alike  of  man's  physi- 
cal and  intellectual  resources.  Physical  changes  for 
which  no  known  natural  forces  can  account,  and  prophe- 
cies for  which,  in  the  domain  of  thought,  no  satisfactory 

explanation,  apart  from  the  Will  of  God,  has  ever  been 

34* 


4o2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

offered,  constitute  of  themselves  sufficient  warrant  foi 
receiving  the  Bible  as  a  divine  revelation,  and  Christian- 
ity with  all  its  miracles  as  a  divine  system.  Christianity 
claims  to.  be  supernatural.  It  reveals  truths  beyond  the 
range  of  human  thought,  and  that  is  supernatural  ;  it 
records  miracles,  and  they  are  supernatural.  The  two 
are  inseparably  inwrought  with  one  another — the  miracle 
of  revelation  itself,  and  the  miracles  which  are  recorded 
in  the  Scriptures.  The  proposal  to  accept  the  Bible 
without  its  prophecies,  and  Christianity  without  its  mira- 
cles, is  to  deprive  both  of  almost  every  vestige  of  moral 
value.  The  traces  of  the  supernatural  are  so  abundant 
in  the  Bible,  and  so  distinctly  characteristic  of  it,  that  to 
efface  them  or  cut  them  out  would  be  to  render  the  book 
and  its  system  of  truth  so  utterly  meaningless,'  that  it 
would  become  a  piece  of  incongruous  and  useless  patch- 
work, with  no  trace  whatever  of  its  connection  with  the 
works  of  God  in  Creation,  and  that  union  of  the  works 
and  the  word  which  has  recently  become  better  known  in 
the  light  of  science  would  be  unappreciated. 

The  systematic  study  of  Nature  alone  creates  a  dis- 
position to  look  for  and  acknowledge  the  supernatural  in 
any  higher  system  of  truth  which  might  be  brought  with- 
in man's  reach,  and  accordingly  the  Scriptures  are  so 
pervaded  by  tokens  of  a  controlling  presence  above  all 
that  is  merely  human,  that  they  harmonize  with  the  evi- 
dence in  Nature  of  the  supernatural.  That  there  is  de- 
velopment in  the  life  of  every  individual,  and  that  there 
is  evolution  in  separate  systems  or  economies,  every  one 
admits ;  but  there  is  not  the  least  evidence  to  prove,  as 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  4°3 

has  been  already  fully  stated,  that  the  one  system  has 
been  evolved  from  the  other  ;  that  the  different  systems 
of  inorganic  bodies,  and  of  organized  beings,  have  been 
evolved  from  some  very  simple  beginnings  ;  and  that  the 
intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  man  has  been  evolved 
from  either  inorganic  matter,  or  from  some  molluscous 
creature. 

But  supposing  that  both  development  and  evolution 
should  be  found  to  extend  much  more  comprehensively 
in  breadth  and  depth  than  we  yet  imagine,  the  result 
should  not  in  the  least  degree  affect  our  confidence  in 
the  dispensations  of  providence  and  the  means  of  grace. 
There  are  higher  laws  than  this  material  framework, 
with  its  plant  and  animal  existences,  can  ever  exhibit ; 
there  is  the  Sphere  of  Providence  as  it  regulates  individ- 
ual, domestic,  and  national  histories ;  but  beyond  and 
above  it  there  is  the  Economy  of  Grace,  or  the  Plan  of 
Redemption,  and  every  student  is  responsible  for  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  its  doctrines  and  its  duties. 

On  turning  our  attention  closely  to  the  Word  of 
God,  that  the  economy  of  grace  may  be  known  aright, 
we  naturally  expect  that  the  same  method  of  manifesting 
truth  will  be  exhibited  which  appears  in  God's  works 
around  us ;  and  we  are  not  disappointed.  The  natural 
and  the  supernatural  reappear  in  forms  still  more  dis- 
tinctly recognizable,  and  the  progressivencss  which  we 
have  already  described  as  apparent  in  the  adjustments  of 
the  globe  and  in  the  development  of  life-forms,  is  still 
more  obvious  in  the  development  of  revealed  truth  and 
in  the  unfolded  means  of  grace.    At  the  very  commence- 


404  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ment  of  the  Bible,  there  is  that  profoundly  comprehen- 
sive prophecy  or  promise  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made,  "  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the 
woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed  ;  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  Gen. 
3:15.  All  that  has  transpired  in  the  history  of  the 
world  is  morally  an  evolution  from  the  twofold  truth  in 
that  broad  announcement. 

These  facts  at  the  very  outset,  taken  in  connection 
with  what  has  followed,  could  not  be  a  natural  evolution 
of  human  thinking ;  they  must  have  been  supernaturaliy 
communicated.  The  first  distinctly  recognized  element 
in  the  revelation  of  truths  which  lie  beyond  the  grasp  of 
man  is  supernatural ;  indeed,  all  the  facts  of  grace  must 
have  a  supernatural  connection.  The  Bible  carries  in  its 
pages  abundant  evidence  of  the  supernatural,  not  only  in 
its  separate  exalted  truths,  and  in  prophecies  long  mys- 
terious, but  in  the  whole  foundation  and  scope  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  Plan  of  Redemption  is  itself  supernatural, 
and  the  communication  of  that  plan,  be  the  means  what 
they  may,  was  ever  dependent  on  the  mind  of  a  Being 
higher  than  man.  If  these  views  be  refused  on  the  plea 
of  the  universality  of  law,  how  account  for  those  special 
facts,  changes,  and  movements  which  have  transcended 
all  that  has  yet  transpired  within  the  sphere  of  the  mate- 
rial, the  intellectual,  and  the  moral,  in  any  of  those  lands 
in  which  the  light  of  Scripture  has  never  shone  ?  We 
challenge  an  answer.  The  review  of  "  Religious  Beliefs," 
which  has  been  commenced,  and  which,  we  trust,  will  be 
sedulously  prosecuted,  cannot  possibly  prove  that  Chris- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  4°S 

tianity,  with  its  ideas,  doctrines,  and  precepts,  is  a  mere 
evolution  in  the  upward  struggle  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment in  man.  Its  origin  is  distinctly  traceable  to  a  time 
when,  historically,  it  could  not  be  an  evolution  ;  and  its 
character  at  the  present  moment  is  so  confounding  to  all 
false  religions,  that  they  could  not  possibly  give  it  origi- 
nating impulse  and  moulding  process.  If  they  did,  why 
are  they  not  now  originating,  apart  from  Christianity,  a 
similar,  or  some  other  exalted  scheme  ? 

While  rejecting  the  natural  development  of  religious 
belief,  some  very  able  Christian  writers  are  evidently 
much  perplexed  by  the  assertion  of  strenuous  opponents, 
that  the  suspension  of  physical  laws  is  inconceivable,  and 
by  their  repudiating  the  possibility  of  spirit  in  any  way 
interfering  with  material  processes.  Of  the  mode  in 
which  spirit  so  influences  matter  as  to  produce  changes, 
we  have  no  definite  information  or  idea,  but  that  spirit 
can  and  does  thus  work  is  a  fact.  Whenever  we  raise 
our  arm,  we  affect  that  law  of  matter  by  which  it  would 
hang  by  our  side ;  whenever  we  cast  a  stone  into  the  air, 
our  spirit  acts  on  matter  ;  and  so  also  in  a  thousand  dif- 
ferent ways.  It  does  not,  in  the  least,  modify  this  con- 
nection of  spirit  with  matter,  that  the  human  mind  con- 
trols it  in  -a.  manner  distinct  from  that  in  which  the  Divine 
Spirit  may  be  supposed  to  produce  changes  which  are  to 
us  miracles  in  both  cases.  The  mode  of  action,  or  the 
connection  between  two  distinct  existences,  is  inconceiva- 
ble. But,  in  reality,  the  action  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in 
making  the  iron  swim,  or  in  the  miracle  of  walking  on  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  presents  in  itself  no  greater  difficulties 


4o6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

than  the  action  of  the  human  spirit  on  the  body,  and, 
through  the  body,  on  the  various  objects  by  which  it  is 
surrounded. 

There  is  an  obvious  source  of  weakness  in  the  con- 
cession by  Christian  writers  of  absolute  supremacy  to 
what  has  been  not  inappropriately  designated  the  "  Reign 
of  Law."  It  is  a  mistake  to  be  ever  attempting  to  bring 
the  higher  movements  of  Providence  and  Grace  within 
the  limits  of  the  lower  material  processes  of  Creation ; 
and  it  is  no  less  an  error  to  be  ever  reasoning  as  if  all 
nature  were  stereotyped,  fixed,  unchangeable,  incapable 
even  of  modification  except  by  higher  or  hidden  laws, 
which,  in  their  own  sphere,  also,  must  be  physical,  or  con- 
formable in  nature  to  that  on  which  they  act.  There  is, 
of  course,  the  prevalence  of  law  ;  there  is  the  order  of 
nature,  and  we  count  on  its  continuance ;  what  has  been, 
we  expect  to  be.  By  this  principle,  and  its  recognition, 
human  life  is  regulated  and  utilized ;  but  what  has  been 
in.  the  past  is  not  a  logical  warrant  for  dogmatically  assert- 
ing that  the  past  shall  be  invariably  repeated  in  the  future, 
and  that  change  or  reverse  is  in  every  form  impossible. 
All  that  can  be  held  by  us  as  to  the  future,  is  an  expecta- 
tion. The  facts  and  the  laws  which  make  up  what  is 
called  the  constitution  of  our  present  complex  physical 
system,  depended  at  the  beginning,  solely  on  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Creator;  and  the  continuance  of  this 
system,  or  of  any  part  of  it,  must  ever  be  associated 
with  the  sovereignty  of  the  same  omnipotent  Preserver. 
All  that  comes  within  the  sphere  of  our  observation  jus- 
tifies our  conclusions  as  to  law  being  universal  in  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  407 

past,  but  it  does  not  justify  our  so  accepting  that  univer- 
sal law  as  to  make  it  a  proposition,  rendering  any  change 
or  modification  in  the  future  impossible.*  Law  in  the 
past  warrants  no  more  than  an  expectation  in  the  future — 
an  expectation,  it  is  true,  that  amounts  to  practical  cer- 
tainty when  no  contrary  is  anticipated,  but  to  no  more, 
and  therefore  all  reasoning  as  if  it  did  amount  to  more  is 
vitiated.  It  is  by  accepting  the  absolute  certainty  of  the 
one  aspect  as  if  it  equally  covered  what  can  be  no  more 
than  mere  practical  certainty  in  the  other,  that  many  are 
led  into  error  when  interpreting  Scripture  and  estimating 
the  supernatural  or  miraculous.  It  is  this  really  unphi- 
losophical  view  which  has  led  to  the  attempt  to  reduce 
every  miracle  recorded  in  Scripture  to  the  level  of  law, 
either  open  or  hidden.  To  carry  through  their  theory, 
its  advocates  are  bound  to  explain  all  that  is  supernatural 
in  Christianity.  To  leave  outstanding  facts  unaccounted 
for,  or  to  be  explained  by  hidden  laws,  is  to  hinder,  rather 
than  help,  those  who  are  anxiously  turning  their  atten- 
tion to  this  subject. 

The  discussion  has  of  late  been  conducted  through 
phases  that  may  well  arrest  and  alarm  the  Bible  student. 
Amid  the  demands  of  skepticism  and  the  concessions  of 
too  generous  Christian  apologists,  there  is  great  danger 
of  our  losing  sight  of  what  is  fundamental  and  essential 
in  Christianity.  The  contest  is  being  again  narrowed  to 
Hume's  almost  lately  unheeded  position.  The  reign  of 
Law  is  held  to  be  more  powerful  than  the  highest  hu- 

*  See  Mozley's  "Bampton  Lectures  on  Miracles,"  chapter,  Order  of 
Nature,  and  Note  5. 


408  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

man  testimony  ;  and  the  reasonings  of  Campbell,  Paley, 
Chalmers,  and  others,  are  unfortunately  forgotten  or  neg- 
lected by  many  who  should  add  them  to  their  armory, 
and  wield  them  anew.  While  the  phrase  "  reign  of  law" 
serves,  with  not  a  few,  to  cover  their  inveterate  opposi- 
tion to  the  whole  Christian  system,  it  is  influencing 
some  prominent  writers  so  much,  that  they  appear  to  be 
hampered  rather  than  aided  by  the  miracles  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament ;  and  their  chief  concern  seems  to 
be,  so  to  insphere  them  in  a  kind  of  speculative  philoso- 
phy as  to  harmonize  them,  on  the  one  hand,  with  a 
materialistic  belief  in  the  absolute  reign  of  Law,  and  on 
the  other,  with  an  honest  acceptance  of  the  simple  yet 
sublime  records  of  Christianity. 

In '  illustration  of  this  tendency,  it  may  suffice  to 
quote  the  following  somewhat  qualified  statements :  "  Yet," 
says  Principal  Tulloch,  "when  we  reflect  that  this  higher 
will  is  everywhere  reason  and  wisdom,  it  seems  a  juster 
as  well  as  a  more  comprehensive  view,  to  regard  it  as 
operating  by  subordination  and  evolution,  rather  than  by 
'interference'  or  'violation.'  According  to  this  view,  the 
idea  of.  law  is  so  far  from  being  contravened  by  the 
Christian  miracles,  that  it  is  taken  up  by  them  and  made 
their  very  basis.  They  are  the  expression  of  a  higher 
law,  working  out  its  wise  ends  among  the  lower  and 
ordinary  sequences  of  life  and  history.  These  ordinary 
sequences  represent  nature — nature,  however,  not  as  an 
immutable  fact,  but  a  plastic  medium  through  which  a 
higher  voice  and  will  are  ever  addressing  us  ;  and  which, 
therefore,  may  be  wrought  into  new  issues,  when  the 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  409 

voice  has  a  new  message  and  the  will  a  special  purpose 
for  us."* 

The  same  view  is  advocated  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll  : 
"  Assuredly,  whatever  may  be  the  difficulties  of  Chris- 
tianity, this  is  not  one  of  them,,  that  it  calls  on  us  to  be- 
lieve in  any  exception  to  the  universal  prevalence  and 
power  of  law.  Its  leading  facts  and  doctrines  are  direct- 
ly connected  with  this  belief,  and  directly  suggestive 
of  it."f  And  after  quoting  passages  of  Scripture  to 
connect  the  Divine  mission  of  the  Saviour  with  a  cer- 
tain inscrutable  necessity,  he  adds,  "  Whatever  more 
there  may  be  in  such  passages,  they  all  imply  the  uni- 
versal reign  of  law  in  the  moral  and  spiritual,  as  well  as 
in  the  material  world  :  that  these  laws  had  to  be — behooved 
to  be — obeyed  ;  and  that  the  results  to  be  obtained  are 
brought  about  by  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end  ;  or, 
as  it  were,  by  way  of  natural  consequence,  from  the  in- 
strumentality employed."^ 

Doubtless,  Jesus  Christ  was  subject  not  only  to  nat- 
ural and  moral  laws,  but  to  ail  the  requirements  of 
Redemption,  and  the  Gospel  which  his  disciples  preached 
is  comformable  to  human  necessities  ;  but  to  concede 
all  that  Principal  Tulloch  and  the  Duke  of  Argyll  de- 
mand, is  to  involve  the  whole  question  of  Revelation  and 
the  system  which  it  unfolds — Christianity — in  a  confu- 
sion from  which  it  cannot  be  extricated.  If  their  claim 
be  granted,  that  the  idea  of  law  is  the  "very  basis"  of 
Christian  miracles,  and  that  we  are  not  called  on  "  to  be- 
lieve in  any  exception"   to  the  universal  prevalence  and 

*  "  Beginning  of  Life,"  p.  85.       t  "Reign  of  Law,"  p.  51.       %  Ibid.,  p.  52. 

35 


4i o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

power  of  law,  it  must  suffice  to  explain  all  the  facts 
which  are  placed  before  us.  If  it  leave  some  outside 
their  conclusion,  it  cannot  satisfy  us.  Every  miracle 
must  be  explicable  by  this  principle,  it  must  be  ultimate- 
ly referable  to  law  as  the  "basis  ;"  and  what  is  the  issue 
but  this,  chat  the  whole  system  may  yet  be  reduced 
to  the  ordinary  level  of  the  natural,  like  the  formerly 
unexplained  mystery  of  eclipses,  and  we  shall  have  no 
foundation  on  which  to  rest  our  hope  as  to  the  unseen 
and  eternal  ?  Divested  of  all  evidence  of  the  supernatu- 
ral, or,  in  other  words,  of  a  personal  controlling  power, 
there  is  nothing  to  draw  the  mind  upward,  and  give  it 
stability  and  comfort.  Is  this  theory  tenable  ?  Is  this 
result  possible?  We  think  not.  We  agree  with  Presi- 
dent M'Cosh  when  he  says, 

"  It  should  not  be  allowed  for  one  moment  that  we 
are  not  at  liberty  to  look  upon  an  event  as  springing  from 
the  supernatural  power  of  God,  unless  it  can  be  shown 
to  be  a  link  in  a  concatenated  combination.  There  is  a 
loose  and  empty  style  of  speaking  in  our  day  about  mir- 
acles being,  after  all,  referable  to  a  higher  law,  which 
either  has  no  definite  meaning,  or  may  be  understood  in 
a  misleading  sense,  and,  at  best,  is  no  way  fitted  to  gain 
the  opponents  of  supernaturalism,  who  by  law  always 
mean  one  consistent  thing,  and  that  is,  natural  law.  If 
it  is  meant  that  miracles  can  all  be  referred  to  some  high- 
er natural  law,  discoverable  or  undiscoverable,  the  im- 
pression may  be  left,  that  they  are  like  meteors,  or  like 
mesmerism,  simply  mysteries  which  may  yet  come  with- 
in natural  explanation,  and  which  cannot,  therefore,  be 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  411 

evidential  of  supernatural  action.  If  it  is  meant  that  they 
can  all  be  referred  to  some  supernatural  law,  known  or 
unknown,  the  assertion  is  made  without  a  warrant  from 
revelation.  ...  It  is  quite  conceivable,  indeed,  that  there 
may  be  some  such  law  beyond  our  ken,  but  of  what  use 
can  it  be  to  appeal  to  a  law  unknown  and  unknowable. 
It  is  quite  as  conceivable  that  God  may  have  wrought  in 
our  world  an  isolated  occurrence,  having  no  connection, 
physical,  causal,  or  dependent,  with  any  other  mundane 
occurrence,  except  the  profound  relations  which  all  things 
have  one  to  another  in  the  Divine  Mind."* 

We  may  with  perfect  consistency  go  even  farther 
than  the  supposition  that  "  it  is  quite  conceivable  that 
God  may  have  wrought  in  our  world  an  isolated  occur- 
rence," and  assume  the  fact.  We  have  a  solid  founda- 
tion on  which  to  rest;  the  creation  of  the  "heavens  and 
the  earth"  is  an  isolated  occurrence,  the  instituting  of 
laws  is  an  isolated  occurrence,  the  origin  of  life  is  an 
isolated  occurrence,  the  appearance  of  man  as  rational, 
moral,  and  responsible,  is  an  isolated  occurrence  ;  and  we 
are  warranted  in  denying  the  sufficiency  of  proof  to  the 
contrary.  We  do  not  claim  belief  that  God  ordinarily 
interferes  with  the  processes  of  natural  law.  It  has  its 
reign.  But  he  has  interfered  with  law,  he  has  interfered 
with  the  laws  of  the  inorganic  structure  by  the  superven- 
tion of  the  laws  of  plant  life,  and  so  on  upward  through 
the  stages  which  we  have  already  described,  until  there 
is  no  resting-place  for  the  observant  inquirer  lower  than 
the  Infinite  and  Sovereign  Mind. 

*  "The  Supernatural,'"  p.  16S. 


4i2  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

If  this  is  denied  on  the  plea  of  universality  of  law, 
how  account  for  even  those  facts  of  lesser  import,  which 
yet  transcendently  overtop  the  ordinary  movements  of 
material,  intellectual,  and  moral  being  ?  Among  the  sub- 
ordinate in  the  material,  we  have  iron  rising  to  the  sur- 
face apparently  by  the  will  of  the  prophet,  but  really  by 
a  higher  power  operating  through  man's  will  as  its  medi- 
um, and  reversing  the  law  by  which  iron  sinks.  When 
the  waters  of  the  Jordan  ceased  their  course  to  the  Dead 
Sea  until  the  Israelites  passed  over,  there  was  more  than 
hidden  laws  can  conceivably  explain.  Among  the  sub- 
ordinate in  the  intellectual,  we  have  prophecy.  How 
possibly  deduce  that  far  insight  into  the  future  from  law 
or  evolution  ?  How  have  facts,  centuries  distant,  been 
brought  within  man's  grasp  ?  The  prediction  and  its 
fulfilment,  after  an  interval  of  many  centuries,  have  been 
completely  adjusted.  While  there  are  miracles  in  the 
Christian  system  which  perfectly  harmonize  with  its  ex- 
alted truths  and  doctrines,  they  cannot  possibly  be  all 
reduced  within  the  range  of  laws  either  known  or  hidden. 
Although  some  of  the  miracles,  it  is  true,  may  be  directly 
associated  with  special  ends,  there  are  others  of  more 
comprehensive  import  which  can  be  brought  within  the 
sphere  of  no  law  whatever,  conformably  to  which  God 
must  necessarily  act ;  four  may  be  specified  which  can- 
not be  reasonably  connected  with  any  law  in  nature  or 
behind  it,  apart  from  the  directly  controlling  will  of  God  : 
i,  Revelation  ;  2,  the  Incarnation  of  Christ  ;  3,  His 
Resurrection  ;  and  4,  His  Ascension. 

1.  Revelation.      It   is  in    origin,  absolutely  super- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  413 

natural.  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God  ;" 
"  Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost."  As  truth,  it  is  relatively  supernatural 
to  those  higher  and  highest  truths  which  man  himself 
can  reach  in  the  domain  of  human  thought,  and  some 
of  which,  as  natural,  have  been  inwrought  with  what  is 
the  subject  of  direct  revelation.  All  that  is  unfolded  in 
Scripture  as  to  redemption  is,  in  origin,  supernatural,  al- 
though reaching  us  now  through  the  ordinary  channels 
of  a  written  Word. 

2.  The  Incarnation  of  the  blessed  Redeemer  is  also, 
in  its  origin,  absolutely  supernatural.  It  can  be  reduced 
to  no  law.  It  is  absolute  as  the  origin  of  creation.  But 
while  the  first  movement  of  the  Son  in  his  incarnation, 
and  in  that  humiliation  which  was  to  be  specially  his  own 
in  the  economy  of  redemption,  was  absolutely  supernatu- 
ral, it  was  relatively  supernatural  as  to  "  the  true  body 
and  reasonable  soul,"  and  also  as  to  his  life  being  holy 
and  "  separate  from  sinners."  While  he  revealed  God  as 
he  is,  and  man  as  he  ought  to  be,  he  was  in  his  human 
history  subject  like  other  men  to  the  ordinary  influences 
of  material,  mental,  and  moral  laws  ;  and  he  thus  com- 
bined in  his  life  the  natural  and  the  relatively  as  well  as 
the  absolutely  supernatural. 

3.  The  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  centre- 
doctrine  of  the  Christian  church,  has  been  established 
by  most  convincing  proofs.  The  apostles  had  seen  him, 
they  had  eaten  with  him,  they  had  touched  him,  they 
had  in  different  circumstances  verified  their  impressions  ; 
and  thereafter,  "  with  great  power  gave  the  apostles  wit- 

35* 


4i4  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ness  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Acts  4  :  33. 
No  truth  is  more  forcibly  or  more  distinctly  presented  in 
the  Word  of  God.  It  is  the  fact  to  which  Christ  himself 
appealed  as  warranting  his  claim  to  the  homage  of  the 
world.  So  irresistible  is  the  evidence  of  the  literal  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  grave,  that  it  is  accept- 
ed as  a  fact,  not  only  by  orthodox  churches,  but  even  by 
some  prominent  rationalistic  critics  who  discredit  his 
other  miracles  of  power,  and  also  his  ascension  into 
heaven.  As  it  is  not,  however,  with  the  proof  of  the 
fact  we  have  to  do,  but  with  the  explanation  by  which 
some  Christian  writers  attempt  to  bring  this  great  mira- 
cle within  the  scope  of  hidden  laws,  we  have  to  urge,  in 
reply,  that  although  such  is  in  itself  imaginable,  there  is 
not  a  vestige  of  proof  to  warrant  the  supposition,  and  it 
is  utterly  inconceivable  and  inadmissible,  if  it  is  meant 
thereby  to  dissociate  the  result  from  the  directly  origi- 
nating and  guiding  power  of  God.  The  attempt  to  ex- 
plain the  resurrection  of  Christ  by  referring  it  to  some 
unknown  law,  increases  rather  than  lessens  the  difficulty, 
by  constraining  us  to  read  the  New  Testament  record  in 
a  different  sense  from  that  which  is  obviously  implied. 
We  cannot  place  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  within  the 
sphere  of  hidden  laws  without  doing  violence  to  plain 
historical  statements,  for  Christ  himself  has  expressly 
declared  that  he  had  power  over  life  and  death ;  or,  in 
other  words,  that  he  was  above  the  sway  of  what  we 
term  Universal  Law.  "  Therefore  doth  my  Father  love 
me,  because  I  lay  down  my  life  that  I  might  take  it  again. 
No  man  takcth  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself, 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  415 

I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take 
it  again."  John  10:17,  !8-  While  our  human  nature 
has  been  given  to  us,  he  assumed  this  nature  ;  "  He  took 
to  himself  a  true  body  and  a  reasonable  soul."  These  and 
similar  declarations  reveal  in  Jesus  a  power  absolutely 
independent  of  those  natural  laws  or  forces,  which  he 
used  supernaturally  or  miraculously  in  accomplishing 
the  great  ends  of  his  mission. 

4.  In  the  ascension  of  the  Lord  Jesus  we  have  an- 
other fact,  dazzling  in  its  splendor,  and  revealing  super- 
natural action.  His  bodily  ascension,  in  the  presence  of 
his  disciples,  while  it  overbore  and  set  aside  the  univer- 
sal law  of  gravitation,  has  given  us  no  glimpse  of  any 
other  more  powerful  counteractive  law,  nor  any  warrant, 
indeed,  for  supposing  that  such  a  law  has  ever  existed. 
The  evidence  of  the  fact  itself  is  complete,  and  the  man- 
ner with  which  it  is  described  has  singular  impressive- 
ness.  "  And  he  led  them  out  as  far  as  to  Bethany ;  and 
he  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  blessed  them.  And  it  came 
to  pass  while  he  blessed  them,  he  was  parted  from  them, 
and  carried  up  into  heaven.  And  when  he  had  spoken 
these  things,  while  they  beheld,  he  was  taken  up  and  a 
cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight."  Luke  24:50,  51  ; 
Acts  1  :g.  There  is  no  possible  explanation  of  these 
words  but  that  which  their  obvious  meaning  suggests. 
Jesus  has  ascended  to  glory  ;  and  we  think  it  unneces- 
sary, with  those  who  accept  the  Bible  narrative  as  true, 
either  to  state  the  objections  of  such  as  Strauss,  or  the 
answers  of  such  as  Ebrard.  There  may  have  been  the 
adaptation  or  the  introduction  of  higher  laws  to  facilitate 


4i 6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ascent,  thus  constituting  here,  also,  relatively  supernatu- 
ral action  ;  but  in  the  outgoing  of  the  will  and  power  of 
Jesus  there  was  the  absolutely  supernatural.  Like  the 
incarnation  and  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  his 
ascension  is  mysterious  in  its  process  ;  it  cannot  possibly 
be  explained  by  physical  science  ;  it  is  a  fact,  at  the  same 
time,  which  is  but  the  natural — we  may  add,  the  inevi- 
table— outcome  from  the  resurrection.  Jesus  had  risen  ; 
and  as  he  was  not  again  to  die,  it  was  essential  that  he 
should  pass  from  his  earthly  existence  in  a  supernatural 
way ;  and  it  was  consoling  to  his  sorrowing  disciples,  as  it 
is  now  satisfactory  to  every  believer,  to  have  the  facts  of 
his  departure  distinctly  stated,  although  that  departure  to 
a  higher  sphere  cannot  be  proved  by  even  the  ingenuity 
of  modern  science  to  have  been  in  the  least  degree  con- 
formable to  any  ordinary  or  known  or  hidden  laws.  But 
the  fact  is  certain,  like  the  resurrection  itself  ;  and  as  the 
resurrection  is  but  the  beginning  of  the  ascension — as  it 
is  in  his  grave  the  first  ray  of  his  future  glory  shines — 
both  facts  must  stand  or  fall  together. 

IV.    RESULTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

In  Revelation,  the  incarnation  of  Christ  Jesus,  his 
death,  resurrection,  and  ascension,  apart  from  many 
other  impressive  events,  there  is  such  a  singular  yet 
perfectly  harmonious  combination,  not  only  of  miracles 
but  ot  doctrines,  as  renders  Christianity  easily  distin- 
guishable from  every  other  religious  system,  and  as  nat- 
urally leads  every  unprejudiced  student  to  anticipate  cor- 
responding results.      And   so  it  is.      The  history  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  417 

Christianity  in  the  world  is  its  best  interpreter ;  it  re- 
veals a  series  of  changes  so  distinct  as  to  be  easily  trace- 
able in  the  character  of  individuals  and  of  nations ;  it 
represents  the  evolution  of  doctrine  in  the  higher  life  of 
renewed  men,  and  it  is  ever  exhibiting  all  those  remedial 
influences  which  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  enables  man  every- 
where to  appropriate. 

As  this  subject  is  too  extensive  to  be  fully  discussed 
within  the  space  at  our  disposal,  we  must  restrict  our- 
selves to  a  brief  review  of  those  results  which  depend 
on  doctrines  chiefly  related  to  the  person  of  Christ,  and 
which  are  manifested  in  individual,  social,  and  national 
life. 

1.  The  doctrines  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
create  a  new  motive  to  action  and  sustain  an  ennobling 
aim.  Love  and  holiness  are  their  natural  fruits.  In  the 
multifarious  religions  of  the  world,  this  motive  to  action 
and  this  aim  were  absent.  There  was  an  abiding  and 
ever  deeply-felt  want,  which  they  utterly  failed  to  remove 
or  lessen.  The  sublime  moral  maxims  of  oriental  na- 
tions— the  early  learning  of  Egypt — the  philosophic  and 
aesthetic  culture  of  Greece — and  the  jurisprudence  of 
Rome,  rising  from  the  midst  of  an  all-embracing  idola- 
try— never  produced  any  results  approaching  those  which 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  has  diffused  through  every 
generation.  For  at  least  six  thousand  years,  the  world 
has  done  its  best  to  repress  evil  and  lessen  sorrow,  but 
has  failed.  Untaught  by  experience,  the  world  continues 
its  vain  struggle.  Philosophy  has  long  striven  to  solve 
the  problem  of  human  life,  and  has  failed.     Poetry  has 


418  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

long-  sung  its  most  ennobling  strains,  and  has  failed. 
Political  wisdom  has  run  its  course  of  secular  expedients, 
and  has  failed.  Unaided  humanity  has  had  no  spirit  with 
power  to  rise  above  its  own  dark  and  troubled  waters, 
and  evolve  from  its  chaos  light,  beauty,  and  stability. 
But  in  the  doctrines  of  the  cross,  in  the  gospel  revealing 
the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  the  supernatural 
introduction  of  a  new  motive  power — there  is  that  which 
is  changing  the  intellectual  and  moral  aspects  of  the 
whole  world.  Although  heathen  philosophers  under- 
stood not  the  gospel,  the  olden  prophets  proclaimed  its 
power  ;  although  earliest  poets  could  assign  it  no  place 
in  their  strains,  it  gave  a  tenderer  thrill  to  David's  lyre, 
and  with  it  Solomon  enriched  his  song  ;  although  to  the 
Greek  it  was  foolishness,  and  to  the  Jew  a  stumbling- 
block,  it  became  mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  the 
strongholds  of  Satan  ;  and  although  Saul  of  Tarsus  con- 
strained men  to  attempt  to  swear  it  down,  it  subdued  his 
own  heart,  and  led  him,  in  the  face  alike  of  friend  and 
foe,  henceforth  with  unfaltering-  tongue  to  proclaim  his 
one  great  resolve :  "  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save 
in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

The  doctrines  of  the  cross,  as  dependent  not  on  a 
system  but  on  a  person,  Jesus  Christ,  gave  the  motive 
power  that  was  needed  by  the  world  to  connect,  through 
grace,  its  knowledge  of  the  right  with  the  doing  of  it. 
In  the  wondrous  truths  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of 
God,  of  his  death,  of  his  resurrection,  and  of  his  ascen- 
sion, is  much  of  the  vitalizing  power  which,  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  reanimating  a  perishing  world,  and  enriching 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  4*9 

it  with  moral  loveliness.  These  truths  represent  preemi- 
nently the  love  and  the  wisdom  of  God  as  originating 
that  which,  in  the  gift  of  the  Son,  was  absolutely  super- 
natural. "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  John 
3:16.  "And  we  have  seen,  and  do  testify,  that  the 
Father  hath  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 
1  John  4 :  14.  This  giving  of  the  Son — this  "  God  sent 
his  Son" — can,  by  no  conceivable  process  of  thought,  be 
referred  to  any  law.  Its  secrets  are  in  the  divine  coun- 
sels. With  what  singular  exactness  the  apostles'  delin- 
eation of  the  life  and  character  of  Jesus  corresponds 
with  the  simple  yet  sublime  announcement  of  the  Evan- 
gelist !  "  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  con- 
demn the  world;  but  that  the  world  through  him  might 
be  saved."  John  3:17.  "  Let  this  mind  be  in  you,  which 
was  also  in  Christ  Jesus :  who,  being  in  the  form  of  God, 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God ;  but  made 
himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of 
a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men  ;  and  be- 
ing found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and 
became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 
Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given 
him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name:  that  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in 
heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ; 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  Phil.  2  :  5-1 1. 
2.  These  and  similar  descriptions  separate  the  Bible 


42  o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

from  all  other  books,  and  Christ  Jesus  from  all  other 
persons.  In  the  announcement  of  his  advent,  and  in 
the  records  of  his  life,  there  is  a  history  which  rises 
above  all  histories.  Christ  can  no  more  be  classified 
with  mankind,  than  his  miracles  can  be  reduced  to  ordi- 
nary events.  His  whole  life  attests  the  truth  that  he  is 
from  above,  and  that  he  came  to  save  the  lost.  Chris- 
tianity is,  in  this  view,  "an  historically  superhuman  move- 
ment in  the  world,  that  is  visibly  entered  into  it,  and 
organized  to  be  an  institution  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ.  He  is  the  central  figure ;  he  is  the  unfailing 
power ;  and,  with  him,  the  entire  fabric  either  stands  or 
falls."*  Christ  was  himself  a  revelation  of  God.  "  He 
was  the  brightness  of  His  glory,  and  the  express  image 
of  His  person  ;"  he  was  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh." 
Humble  as  he  was  among  men,  he  willed  to  be  a  king, 
and  his  ministerial  work  was  one  continued  proclamation 
of  his  absolute  and  unrivalled  sway ;  and  when  that  min- 
istry on  earth  had  terminated,  he  encouraged  his  disci- 
ples by  the  declaration,  "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth,"  and  by  the  thrilling  promise,  "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 
As  we  study  his  character  and  his  claims,  we  are  con- 
strained to  acknowledge  the  truth  of  Isaiah's  prophecy : 
"  And  his  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,"  Isaiah  9:6; 
and  "  we  discover,  as  did  the  first  Christians,  beneath 
and  beyond  all  that  meets  the  eye  of  sense  and  the  eye 
of  conscience,  the  eternal  Person  of  our  Lord  himself. 
It  is  not  the  miracles,  but  the  Maker;  not  the  character, 

*  See  Bushnell's  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  chapter  10. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  421 

but  the  living  subject ;  not  the  teaching,  but  the  Master ; 
not  even  the  death  or  the  resurrection,  but  He  who  died 
and  rose  again ;  upon  whom  Christian  thought,  Christian 
love,  Christian  resolution,  ultimately  rest."*  To  him 
alone  believers  on  earth,  like  the  ransomed  in  glory, 
turn  as  "  all  their  salvation  and  all  their  desire." 

The  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the  very  foundation 
of  Christianity.  He  is  its  source  and  its  support.  He  is 
its  embodiment.  As  well  take  the  sun  from  our  system, 
as  Christ  from  Christianity.  Philosophy  can  exist  apart 
from  the  philosopher,  science  from  the  scientist,  art  from 
the  artist;  but  not  so  Christianity.  Platonism  may  re- 
main though  Plato  may  be  himself  forgotten,  astronomy 
may  remain  though  Newton  or  Laplace  may  not  once 
reappear  in  the  student's  memory,  and  so  of  all  human 
systems  ;  but  Christianity  without  Christ  evanishes  as 
intellectual  vapor,f  and  becomes  alike  powerless  and  un- 
profitable. This  lowly  Jesus  has  become  the  great  centre 
of  thought  in  the  civilized  world.  Men  cannot  rest  in 
his  teaching  alone,  or  his  doctrines ;  they  see  in  them  all 
Himself,  and  everywhere  they  are  now  in  the  profound- 
est  sense  acknowledging  his  intellectual  and  moral  pre- 
eminence. Religious  controversies  have  removed  from 
their  old  positions,  and  they  are  concentrating  their 
forces  around  the  person  of  Jesus.  The  highest  scholar- 
ship, the  most  cultivated  taste,  and  the  profoundest  phi- 
losophy, have  united  their  resources  in  analyzing  his 
character  and  in  portraying  his  life. 

*  LiJdon's  Bampton  Lectures  on  "  Our  Lord's  Divinity,"  p.  146. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  127. 

3G 


422  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Intellectually  and  emotionally,  is  the  prophetic  decla- 
ration being  fulfilled :  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  Thought  and  feeling 
from  opposite  poles  are  drawn  to  him,  whether  in  knowl- 
edge, in  faith,  in  love,  in  adoration,  or  in  hate  and  fear. 
Among  learned  men,  he  is  in  the  midst  now  as  when  in 
the  temple  he  "was  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doctors 
asking  them  questions,"  and  taxing  their  learning  and 
their  wisdom.  Skepticism  and  unbelief  are  accustomed 
to  examine  his  claims,  and  ever  as  they  strive  to  escape 
they  turn  to  look  on  him,  as  Peter  met  his  glance  when 
in  cowardice  he  swore  he  knew  not  the  man. 

3.  Not  only  are  the  fundamental  conditions  and  the 
essential  truths  of  Christianity  miraculous  in  their  origin, 
but  they  are  supernatural  in  the  results  which  they  pro- 
duce. Its  ideas  of  God,  its  clear  delineations  of  heaven, 
its  demands  of  holiness,  of  love,  of  patience,  of  self- 
denying  toil,  not  for  the  indigent  only,  but  for  enemies, 
its  commands  to  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  its 
fulness  of  consolation  through  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Com- 
forter, are  blessings  which  are  inseparable  from  true 
Christianity,  but  which  are  discoverable  in  no  other  reli- 
gious system.  Truly,  Christendom  is  not  the  creation  of 
mere  human  thought  and  will.  Guizot  has  informed  us 
that  in  studying  for  the  annotation  of  Gibbon,  he  became 
impressed  "  not  only  with  the  moral  and  social  grandeur 
of  Christianity,  but  with  the  difficulty  of  explaining  it  by 
purely  human  forces  and  causes." 

a.  The  fruits  of    Christianity  in  individual  character 
are  apparent.     Union  to  Christ  by  faith  is  the  condition 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  423 

of  enjoyments  which  never  cease,  it  is  the  source  of  that 
"  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding,"  and  inten- 
sifies that  love  through  which  believers  become  more  than 
conquerors  in  their  constant  struggle  with  spiritual  foes. 
Christianity,  originated  in  love,  is  manifested  in  every 
man  by  himself,  and  by  him  in  the  world.  The  perfec- 
tion of  the  individual  is  its  first  aim  ;  and  the  second,  the 
right  use  of  that  perfection  in  the  world  for  its  improve- 
ment and  happiness.  It  takes  man  as  he  is,  sunken  and 
debased,  or  intellectually  equipped  and  socially  refined, 
and,  creating  in  him  the  consciousness  of  sin,  stimulating 
his  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  all-seeing  and  just  Ruler, 
and  leading  him  to  feel,  in  the  solitude  of  guilt,  as  if  none 
existed  save  himself  and  his  God,  it  directs  him  to  that 
blessed  Redeemer  who  hath  said  to  the  guiltiest  and  the 
vilest,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest."  Thus  may  those  whose  life  has  been  most 
enslaved  to  sin  become  "  heirs  of  God,"  and  exclaim, 
"  Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  be- 
stowed on  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God." 
They  are  "new  creatures,"  and  strive  to  meet  through 
grace  all  the  demands  of  their  higher  sphere.  The 
perfection  which  is  to  be  reached  is  special ;  it  is  not 
exactly  that  of  an  unfallen  being,  but,  resting  on  a  dis- 
tinct foundation,  and  having  new  characteristics,  it  is 
specified  as  "perfection  in  Christ  Jesus."  The  affections 
purified,  the  understanding  enlightened,  the  will  submis- 
sive, the  conscience  made  sensitive  and  strengthened, 
the  imagination  regulated,  the  love  abounding  "yet  more 
and  more  in  knowledge  and  in  all  judgment,"  are  univer- 


424  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

sal  results  in  Christian  life.  Every  man  is  summoned  to 
know,  to  act,  and  to  be  for  himself  alone  as  accountable 
to  God.  He  is  encouraged  to  look  "  into  the  perfect  law 
of  liberty"  that  he  may  learn — to  learn  that  he  may  be  a 
"doer  of  the  work,"  and  to  do  that  he  may  be  "blessed 
in  the  deed."  What  he  knows,  he  is  to  apply;  what  he 
receives,  he  is  to  distribute ;  what  intellectual,  moral, 
and  spiritual  influences  benefit  his  own  life,  he  is  freely 
to  communicate  to  others,  for  the  common  good.  Thus 
does  Christianity  blend  the  doctrinal  and  the  practical, 
theology  and  religion,  the  sublimest  truths  with  the  com- 
monest duties  of  daily  life. 

b.  In  social,  as  well  as  in  individual  life,  the  assimila- 
tive influences  of  Christianity  are  distinctly  visible.  The 
power  which,  in  the  breast  of  every  believer,  subdues  and 
controls  his  warring  passions,  no  less  effectively  com- 
mands and  regulates  the  surging  movements  of  society. 
Without  demanding  any  change  in  the  external  arrange- 
ments of  society,  it  has  infused  a  new  spirit,  broken  down 
the  middle  wall  of  partition  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  and 
revolutionized  the  old  estimate  of  distinctions  between 
high  and  low,  learned  and  unlearned.  It  has  rebuked 
selfishness  in  every  form  ;  and  care  for  the  poor,  long 
regarded  as  no  part  of  society  at  all,*  but  only  as  materi- 
als to  be  wasted  in  war  or  in  the  drudgery  of  home  servi- 
ces, it  has  not  only  inculcated  by  new  arguments,  but 
sustained  by  new  motives. 

At  the  time  of  Christ's  appearing,  a  kindly  regard  to 
the  poor  had  perished  amid  even  the  stirring  injunctions 

*  See  Bushnell's  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  p.  241. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  425 

of  Moses,  the  psalmist,  and  the  prophets.  Selfishness 
was  supreme.  The  ordinary  duties  of  common  philan- 
thropy were  but  feebly  if  at  all  discharged.  Mutual  love, 
in  its  noblest  sense,  had  ceased  to  be  recognized  by  the 
Jews  as  a  principle  of  action.  Because  distasteful  and 
unpopular,  the  topic  found  no  place  in  the  disquisitions 
of  the  moralists  or  the  religious  expositors  of  that  degen- 
erate age.  The  Sadducees  had  no  motive  by  which  to 
stimulate  or  sustain  self-denial,  and  the  Pharisees,  teach- 
ing, with  untroubled  conscience,  ungrateful  children  to 
evade  the  fifth  commandment,  and  defraud  their  parents 
of  that  filial  aid  which  the  law  of  God  and  the  instincts 
of  their  own  nature  taught  them  to  render  freely,  either 
shunned  or  disowned  the  subject.  In  the  midst  of  this 
heartless  laxity  of  moral  principle  Jesus  appeared,  and, 
while  by  his  life  he  established  principles  which  com- 
pletely revolutionized  the  ethics  of  the  world,  he  spoke 
to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  man  with  a  spirituality 
and  power  never  before  approached  by  prophet,  or  priest, 
or  psalmist. 

In  his  ministry,  human  slavery  lost  the  foundation 
which  tradition  and  custom  had  given  it,  and  its  last 
argument  perished  in  the  overwhelming  fulness  of  that 
gospel  which  was  henceforth  to  be  preached  to  all  na- 
tions. Woman  also  was  assigned  her  rightful  place ;  but 
although  eighteen  centuries  have  passed  since  Christian- 
ity restored  and  honored  woman's  claims,  her  sunken 
condition  in  the  midst  of  Eastern  civilization  is  still  as 
signal  as  it  is  in  those  dark  places  which  savage  ferocity 
wantonly  stains  with  human  blood. 

30* 


426  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

Not  only  has  Christianity  shielded  the  poor,  and  up- 
lifted woman,  but  it  has  diffused  those  genializing  influ- 
ences which  bless  the  outcast,  the  maimed,  the  diseased, 
and  the  infirm.  It  pleads  for  them,  and  shelters  them  in 
the  asylum,  the  almshouse,  and  the  hospital.  On  objects 
or  themes  like  these  the  eloquence  of  heathenism  never 
spent  its  strength.  In  Christianity  alone  can  we  find  a 
higher  eloquence  plying  its  power  on  behalf  of  the  suffer- 
ing poor  than  ever  thrilled  the  councils  and  the  courts  of 
ancient  heathenism.  In  short,  in  no  part  of  the  world 
has  there  ever  been  raised  any  social  structure  so  beau- 
tiful in  aspect,  so  lovely  in  proportion,  so  truly  generous 
in  spirit,  and  so  effective  in  methods,  as  that  which  Chris- 
tianity creates  and  adorns. 

c.  Those  forces  which  beneficially  operate  in  society, 
permeate  with  no  less  effect  communities  and  empires. 
As  the  individual  is  the  type  of  society,  so  society  repre- 
sents national  character.  As  society  retains  its  external 
aspects,  even  when  animated  by  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity, so  nationalities  may  be  expected  still  to  retain  their 
distinctive  characteristics,  when  they  are  all  one  in  spirit. 
The  idea  of  a  world-wide  dominion  does  not  require  the 
absorption  of  all  nationalities  into  one  vast  empire,  but  it 
represents  them  associated  as  are  members  of  the  same 
family,  who  yet  differ  from  one  another.  Not  the  king- 
dom of  this  world,  but  its  "  kingdoms,"  are  to  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord. 

This  oneness  of  many  kingdoms,  with  widely  differ- 
ing forms,  is  dependent  on  the  oneness  of  principle  which 
Jesus  Christ  himself  embodies.     Love  and  holiness  are 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  427 

its  characteristics.  Love  is  its  compacting  power,  and 
holiness  its  universal  expression.  The  mind  which  was 
in  Christ  is  to  be  in  the  Christian.  The  world  is  to  be- 
come of  "  one  mind  in  the  Lord."  To  this  universality 
of  empire  the  Scriptures  direct  us.  The  unity  of  God 
and  the  unity  of  the  human  race,  as  taught  in  Scripture, 
presuppose  the  ultimate  unity  of  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world.  Diversity  of  races  and  of  nationalities  does  not 
necessitate  the  abandonment  of  the  idea  that  Jesus  shall 
be  acknowledged  "  Lord  of  all."  Christianity  does  not 
obliterate,  in  the  individual,  mental  characteristics,  or  pro- 
duce a  monotonous  uniformity.  After  conversion,  each 
continues  himself as  before  it.  Though  modified,  consti- 
tutional qualities  abide.  The  prophets  and  the  apostles 
were  one  in  spirit,  though  easily  distinguishable  in  their 
representation  of  that  spirit.  The  genius  of  Isaiah,  the 
pathos  of  Jeremiah,  the  statesmanship  of  Daniel,  the  phil- 
osophic thoughtfulness  of  St.  John,  and  the  reasoning 
power  of  the  apostle  Paul,  not  only  retained  their  lustre 
undiminished,  but  had  their  intensity  increased  by  faith 
in  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Thus  also  may  nations  be  so 
diversified  as  to  be  apparently  antagonistic,  while  in  real- 
ity they  shall  be  of  one  mind  in  Christ.  In  this  idea  of  a 
universal  sway  over  the  human  mind  by  one  Lord,  there 
is  surpassing  grandeur.  That  the  idea  of  a  universal 
kingdom  had  a  place  in  Babylonian,  if  not  indeed  long 
before  in  Egyptian  history  is  certain.  Nebuchadnez- 
zar's dream,  at  least,  contemplated  a  kingdom  that  shall 
"  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  that  shall  break  in  pieces 
and  consume  all  those  kingdoms,  and  that  shall  stand  for 


428  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ever  and  ever."  Cyrus,  Alexander,  and  Caesar  attempted 
to  realize  this  idea,  but  they  utterly  failed.*  The  one  true 
idea  was  couched  in  the  first  promise  to  our  first  parents, 
and  it  had  continuous  and  consistent  development  in  the 
Scriptures  until  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  the 
Jews  mistaking  the  import  of  revelation,  looked  for  a 
material  organization,  and  they  missed  the  truth. 

As  an  idea,  it  is  surpassed  in  grandeur  only  by  the 
history  of  the  means  through  which  it  is  to  be  realized. 
Great  conquerors  sought  to  influence  nations  through 
their  princes  ; '  they  treated  only  with  the  mighty.  But 
Jesus  began  with  the  lowest ;  he  went  to  the  basement  of 
society  to  uplift  and  permeate  its  whole  mass  ;  he  was 
born  among  the  poor,  his  lot  was  in  their  midst ;  he  was 
identified  with  them,  and  made  them  the  special  objects 
of  his  ministry.  To  the  disciples  of  John,  who  put  the 
question  to  him  whether  he  was  the  Christ,  he  answered, 
as  evidence  of  his  mission,  "And  the  poor  have  the  gos- 
pel preached  to  them  ;"  and  now  only  is  the  world  awa- 
kening to  a  just  conception  of  the  marvellous  sublimity 
of  the  blending  benevolence,  wisdom,  and  power  which 
appear  in  the  very  commencement  of  the  Saviour's  work.f 

The  moral  magnificence  of  his  undertaking  is  all  the 
more  impressive  when  we  remember  that  this  kingdom 
has  to  be  established  by  the  diffusion  of  principles  which 
are  ever  intensely  distasteful  to  human  nature.  Not  only 
did  Judaism  and  heathenism  dislike  the  demand  for  in- 
most holiness  as  the  basis  of  external  consistency,  but 

*  See  Luthardt's  "  Fundamental  Truths  of  Christianity,"  pp.  227-230. 
t  See  Bushnell's  "Nature  and  the  Supernatural,"  chapter  10. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS. 


429 


they  regarded  with  inveterate  repugnance  the  very  thought 
of  a  universal  religion  which  should  subdue  the  whole 
world  and  extend  throughout  succeeding  generations. 

How,  therefore,  could  Christianity  be  the  natural 
outcome  of  powers  which  sought  its  instant  destruction 
through  the  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour,  and  which  have 
for  the  last  eighteen  centuries  relentlessly  resisted  its 
extension  ? 

The  inference  that  Christianity  is  a  mere  historical 
result,  evolved  by  slow  changes  from  ancient  religions, 
though  plausible,  is  really  futile.  That  there  was  a  prep- 
aration in  mental  conditions  for  the  Son  of  Man's  advent, 
as  there  had  been  in. material  conditions  for  our  first 
parents,  that  there  were  "unconscious  prophecies  of  hea- 
thenism"* pointing  to  Jesus  as  the  "Desire  of  all  na- 
tions," few  will  be  disposed  to  deny ;  but  that  conclusion 
is  widely  different  from  the  notion  that  Christianity  is 
the  mere  natural  growth  of  the  old  religions  of  Paganism, 
as  man  is,  in  the  belief  of  some,  the  lineal  descendant  of 
the  monkey  tribe.  Voltaire  and  his  school  revelled — and 
blundered  egregiously  as  they  revelled — in  their  reason- 
ing, t  at  Christianity  was  the  puny  offspring  of  Eastern 
religions.  We  do  not  require  to  doubt  or  deny  that  in 
false  religious  systems  there  may  readily  be  found  some 
truths  which  have  their  counterpart  in  Christianity ;  but 
Christianity  is  so  far  in  advance  of  them  all,  that  no  one 
can  really  trace  its  outcome  from  Paganism ;  it  has  also 
diffused  practices  which  have  no  counterpart  in  any  other 
system,  and  for  whose  existence  there  is  no  satisfactory 
*  See  Trench's  "  Hulsean  Lectures,"  1846.     Introductory  Lecture. 


43  o  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

explanation  whatever,  apart  from  the  Bible.  It  has  no 
originality,  if  it  is  regarded  merely  as  an  illustration  of 
moral  truths  embodied  in  ancient  philosophy,  or  if  it  is 
held  to  be  no  more  than  the  last  utterance  of  some  dog- 
matic traditions  which  have  in  varying  forms  existed  in 
all  religions.*  Students  have  spoken  too  hastily.  The 
"  Science  of  Religion  "  has  not  yet  assumed  any  definite 
outline.  Max  Miiller  admits  this.f  We  can  afford  to 
wait,  and  also  to  welcome  any  other  discoveries  that  may 
be  made.  The  bitter  inferences  of  Voltaire  have  been 
rejected  even  by  those  scholars  who  are  indifferent  to 
the  Bible,  and  we  can  look  with  calm  interest  to  the 
growth  of  a  science  of  religion,  promoted  by  the  recent 
discovery  of  authentic  documents  of  the  most  influential 
religions  in  the  ancient  world.  The  Bible  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  Canonical  Books  of  Buddhism,  the  Zend- 
Avesta  of  Zoroaster,  and  the  Hymns  of  Rigveda,  although 
revealing  what  religions  were  existing  before  that  old 
mythology  which  was  a  ruin  even  in  Homer's  time.lj: 
Tested  by  their  practical  results  they  all  fail ;  they  can- 
not be  compared  with  Christianity  in  its  love,  in  its  holi- 
ness, in  its  missionary  spirit.  While  these  religions  are 
limited  to  Asia,  the  gospel  has  its  sanctuaries  in  all 
lands,  and  its  glorious  aim  is,  through  the  grace  of  God 
and  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  reach  every  heart  and  home  in 
the  world. 

d.  In  the  face  of  all  this,  we  are  met  by  the  repeated 
assertion  that  Christianity  has  failed,  that  it  is  effete,  and 

*  See  De  Pressense's  "Religions  before  Christ,"  concluding  chapter. 
t  Max  Miiller's  "Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,"  p.  378.       %  Ibid. 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  431 

must  be  abandoned.  But  to  this  it  may  be  answered,  Is 
it  true  ?  Have  ever  sunken  tribes  been  found  which  it 
has  failed  to  uplift  and  enrich  ?  Has  ever  nation  been 
found  which  has  been  ruined  by  the  adoption  of  its  prin- 
ciples ?  Is  not  the  continuous  history  of  Christianity  the 
refutation  of  such  assertions  ? 

The  triumphs  of  the  gospel  in  Asia,  Europe,  and 
Africa,  during  the  earlier  centuries,  have  arrested  the 
thought  of  even  the  most  indifferent,  and  have  taxed  the 
philosophy  of  the  skeptic  to  account  for  their  complete- 
ness. 

In  comparatively  recent  times,  the  most  ferocious  and 
debased  cannibal  tribes  have  been  subdued  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  gospel — the  most  sunken  tribes  in  the  world — 
men  of  all  races,  of  all  grades  in  society,  and  of  all  stages 
in  culture,  have  rejoiced  in  the  blessing  of  which,  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  they  have  become  partakers. 

It  were  easy  to  adduce  ample  testimony  to  the  power 
of  the  gospel  in  rooting  out  the  most  debasing  social 
practices  and  in  overturning  long-established  systems  of 
idolatry.  The  records  of  missionary  enterprise  vindicate 
the  claim  of  the  gospel  to  be  the  one  mighty  power  which 
is  destined  to  revolutionize  and  exalt  the  world  ;  but  we 
can  do  little  more  than  refer  the  reader  to  some  of  them. 
The  South-Sea  Islanders,  for  instance,  physically  a  noble 
race,  and  favored  with  nature's  richest  products,  were 
idolaters,  destitute  of  principle,  ferocious  in  war,  murder- 
ers of  their  offspring,  and  stained  with  the  blood  of  hu- 
man sacrifices,  but  have  been  so  changed  as  to  present, 
in  some  instances,  the  comeliness,  the  spirit,  and  grace  of 


432  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

civilized  communities.  And  the  Fuegians,  small  in  stat- 
ure, filthy,  and  almost  hopelessly  debased,  have  been  in 
part  reclaimed  and  uplifted.  Dr.  Livingstone,  whose 
impartiality  all  acknowledge,  gives  it  as  his  conclusion, 
after  carefully  noting  the  effects  of  Christianity  on  many 
hundreds  of  the  Griquas  and  Bechuanas,  and  comparing 
them  not  with  what  appears  in  Britain,  but  with  practices 
in  neighboring  tribes,  that  if  the  whole  subject  were 
examined  in  the  severest  and  most  scientific  way,  the 
changes  effected  by  the  missionaries  would  be  reckoned 
unquestionably  very  great.  No  tribe  has  ever  yet  been 
found  so  sunken  as  to  be  beyond  the  power  of  Divine 
truth,  when  presented  in  the  gospel  message.  In  every 
part  of  the  habitable  globe  where  the  voice  of  the  mis- 
sionary has  been  heard,  most  notable  changes  have  been 
effected,  and  the  sufficiency  of  Divine  grace  has  been  most 
distinctly  manifested.  The  boasted  systems  of  the  East 
have  proved  barren  of  similar  results.  There  is  in  them 
no  missionary  spirit,  because  there  is,  and  there  can  be, 
no  love  as  a  motive  force.  Mohammedanism,  Buddhism, 
and  other  systems,  are  now  circumscribed,  apathetic,  and 
monotonous ;  they  seek  no  outlet,  they  are  destitute  of 
enthusiasm,  and  are,  therefore,  without  missionaries  to 
the  most  distant  parts  of  the  earth. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  field  which  lay  before  us  at  the  outset  of  these 
lectures  has  been  traversed,  and  if  we  have  found  in  our 
survey  more  to  encourage  than  to  perplex  the  Bible  stu- 
dent, our  object  has  been  gained.    Studies  which  have  been 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  433 

prosecuted  in  the  various  departments  of  Natural  Science, 
Archaeology,  and  History,  sometimes  with  the  avowed 
object  of  confuting  the  Bible,  as  well  as  many  of  those 
incidental  inferences  which  have  been  the  result  of  purely 
scientific  inquiry,  have  so  often  become  the  sources  not 
only  of  defence,  but  of  singularly  attractive  and  instruc- 
tive expositions  of  Scripture  passages  which  before  were 
somewhat  obscure,  that  we  may  well  rejoice  in  the  assu- 
rance that  whatever  difficulties  remain  shall  disappear  in 
the  fuller  light  of  extending  knowledge,  and  that  fail  or 
change  what  may,  the  "Word  of  the  Lord  endureth  for 
ever." 


37 


NOTE  BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


A  new  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  Bible  has  been 
assumed  by  influential  scientists  in  Britain,  as  represent- 
ed by  Professor  Tyndall.  In  his  inaugural  address  in 
Belfast,  as  President  of  the  British  Association,  he  boldly 
advocated  the  Evolution  Theory  in  its  most  materialistic 
form,  and  in  the  discussion  which  the  address  evoked  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  its  leading  principles  were 
as  boldly  controverted.  They  are  briefly  noticed  in  this 
edition,  chapter  15.  Professor  Tyndall  has  renewed 
the  discussion  in  a  paper  which  he  has  just  published  in 
the  Fortnightly  Review,  and  as  it  could  not  be  noticed 
in  its  proper  place  in  this  edition,  owing  to  its  having 
nearly  passed  through  the  press,  the  author  takes  the 
opportunity  of  referring  to  it  here. 

His  paper  is  not  written  in  the  spirit  in  which  stu- 
dents dealing  with  questions  involving  issues  so  moment- 
ous should  strive  to  emulate  or  exemplify.  Many,  who 
have  read  nearly  all  that  he  has  written  with  a  delight 
which  has  scarcely  been  lessened  by  their  inability  to 
accept  every  one  of  his  conclusions,  or  to  yield  to  all  his 
assertions,  will  regret  to  find  him,  while  bitterly  denoun- 
cing theologians,  losing  the  calmness  of  the  philosopher 


43  6  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

in  the  impatience  of  the  partisan  and  the  dogmatist.  He 
should  with  equanimity  bear  to  be  told  that  his  argument 
in  support  of  the  evolution  theory  is  incomplete — that 
important  links  are  wanting;  that  while  the  sciences 
have  multiplied  their  facts  and  illustrated  their  laws 
within  well-defined  spheres,  they  have  supplied  no  means 
of  connecting  these  separate  spheres.  Evolutionists 
themselves  are  constrained  to  admit  that  the  chasms  are 
yet  unbridged,  and  therefore  impassable,  between  an 
atom  and  life — between  matter  without  life  and  matter 
with  it,  and  between  animal  life  and  human  conscious- 
ness, with  its  associated  moral  distinctions,  philosophic 
power,  and  religious  aspirations. 

"  It  is  absolutely  and  for  ever  inconceivable,"  says 
Du  Bois  Reymond,  "that  a  number  of  carbon,  hydrogen, 
nitrogen,  and  oxygen  atoms  should  be  otherwise  than 
indifferent  as  to  their  own  position  and  motion,  past, 
present,  or  future.  It  is  utterly  inconceivable  how  con- 
sciousness should  result  from  their  joint  action."  On 
this  point  Professor  Tyndall  is  compelled  to  make 
concessions  both  to  Du  Bois  Reymond  and  Mr.  Marti- 
neau  which  completely  invalidate  his  reasoning.  He 
frankly  confesses  that  "  this  is  the  rock  on  which  Mate- 
rialism must  inevitably  split,  whenever  it  pretends  to  be 
a  complete  philosophy  of  the  human  mind."  And  yet 
with  this  admission  in  his  hand,  he  severely  rebukes 
those  who  reject  his  theory  on  account  of  its  sheer  defec- 
tiveness. 

In  the  Fortnightly  Review  he  puts  forth  his  strength 
in    combining   several    illustrations   for  the  purpose  of 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  437 

proving  that  in  matter  there  is  a  "formative  power" 
which  is  sufficient  to  educe  and  account  for  all  the  modi- 
fications of  terrestrial  life.  With  characteristic  grace 
and  eloquence  he  describes  the  changes  through  which 
water  passes  as  it  disappears  in  vapor,  and,  frozen,  falls 
in  "  stars  of  snow ;"  the  rush  of  vital  action  through  the 
slender  branches  of  a  fern  from  Ceylon  "until  the  un- 
sightly twigs  broke  forth  into  a  mass  of  fronds  ;"  the 
changes  through  which  the  acorn  passes  from  the  time 
of  its  bursting  in  a  genial  soil,  until,  as  a  majestic  oak,  it 
spreads  its  branches  in  the  sun  ;  and  he  afterwards  briefly 
indicates  what  physiologists  tell  us  of  the  origin  and 
growth  of  the  human  body.  He  assumes  that  the  "for- 
mative power"  which  came  into  play  in  the  snowflake, 
and  which  existed  in  the  water  and  the  vapor,  though  not 
manifested  by  either,  is  the  same  power  which  is  at  work 
in  the  fern,  the  oak,  and  the  human  body.  By  this 
"  formative  power  "  are  built  all  life  structures ;  and  thus 
he  sees  in  matter  "the  potency  of  all  terrestrial  life." 
He  believes  this,  and  therefore  he  not  only  asserts  his 
dogma,  but  claims  for  it  universal  acceptance.  If  his 
assumptions  were  correct,  the  evidence  of  an  all-embra- 
cing evolution  should  be  met  everywhere.  But  it  is  not 
so.  Continuousness  is  nowhere  visible,  and  there  is  not 
the  slightest  warrant  for  supposing  that  it  is  the  same 
formative  power  which  builds  the  crystal,  the  fern,  the 
oak,  and  the  human  body.  There  is  something  distinc- 
tive in  each.  There  is  that  in  the  crystal  which  sepa- 
rates it  from  the  fern,  and  that  in  the  oak  which  separates 

it  from  the  human  body.    They  never  even  approximate- 

37* 


438  BLENDING  LIGHTS. 

ly  coalesce.  Evolution  is  for  ever  represented  separately 
in  the  crystal,  the  snowflake,  the  oak,  and  the  human 
body.  Neither  Professor  Tyndall  nor  any  other  evo- 
lutionist has  succeeded  in  showing  an  all-pervading  "for- 
mative power"  controlling  inorganic  and  living  matter. 
And  even  if  it  be  granted  that  there  slumber  in  atoms 
different  formative  powers,  which  come  into  play  suc- 
cessively in  congenial  circumstances,  so  as  to  produce 
different  structures,  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal,  there 
is  not  the  slightest  evidence  of  continuousness  or  trans- 
mutation. The  biologist  has  failed  to  connect  spontane- 
ous generation  with  inorganic  matter ;  the  physiologist 
has  failed  to  connect  with  the  processes  in  the  body  the 
facts  of  consciousness ;  and  throughout  the  geologic  vol- 
ume, vast  in  its  lapse  of  ages  and  in  its  extent  of  space, 
not  a  single  vestige  has  yet  been  found  of  those  trans- 
mutations of  structural  form  which  are  indispensable  in 
proof  of  evolution.  The  geologic  volume  is  decidedly 
unfavorable  to  the  evolutionists.  They  are  baffled  by  it 
at  the  very  outset.  In  the  earliest  organism  yet  known, 
the  Eoozoon,  they  have  not  only  found  no  support  to 
their  view,  but,  as  Principal  Dawson  states  in  his  recent 
very  interesting  and  instructive  work,  "The  Dawn  of 
Life,"  the  "  eoozoon  itself  bears  some  negative  though 
damaging  testimony  against  evolution."  And  in  reply  to 
those  who  assert  that  such  an  organism  as  eoozoon  may 
include  potentially  all  the  structures  and  functions  of  the 
higher  animals,  and  that  it  is  possible  that  we  might  be 
able  to  infer  or  calculate  all  these  with  as  much  certainty 
as  we  can  calculate  an  eclipse  or  any  other  physical  phe- 


BLENDING  LIGHTS.  439 

nomenon,"  he  says  that  "there  is  not  only  no  foundation 
in  fact  for  their  assertions,  but  it  is,  from  our  present 
standpoint,  not  conceivable  that  they  can  ever  be  real- 
ized." After  referring  to  the  limited  data  which  they 
use,  as  not  warranting  their  deductions,  Principal  Daw- 
son justly  adds,  "  Those  who  think  to  build  a  philosophy 
and  even  a  religion  on  such  data  are  mere  dreamers,  and 
have  no  scientific  basis  for  their  dogmas." 

In  short,  the  advocates  of  an  evolution  whose  origin 
is  in  atoms,  have  utterly  failed  to  give  any  plausible  ac- 
count of  the  facts  of  modern  civilization,  of  the  philoso- 
phy of  human  history,  and  of  the  doctrines  and  precepts 
of  Christianity.  The  present  aspects  of  the  controversy 
recall  Kirchow's  conclusion  :  "  Of  all  kinds  of  dogma- 
tism, the  materialistic  is  the  most  dangerous,  because  it 
denies  its  own  dogmatism,  and  appears  in  the  garb  of 
science  ;  because  it  professes  to  rest  in  fact,  when  it  is 
but  speculation  ;  and  because  it  attempts  to  annex  terri- 
tories to  the  domain  of  natural  science  before  they  have 
been  fairly  conquered." 

This  discussion,  so  far  as  it  has  yet  gone,  has  done 
good  in  showing  the  weakness  of  the  argument  in  sup- 
port of  materialism,  and  the  weakness  also  of  Christian 
apologists  in  making  unnecessary  and  mischievous  con- 
cessions, the  consequences  of  which  they  do  not  foresee. 

Free  Middle  Manse,  Paisley, 
November  5,  1875. 


